Today's Topics:
1. Slovakia, priama akcia: Coronary Crisis: Concessions ... and
How Not to Make Them (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
How Not to Make Them (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. Australia, Sidney: Educate Agitate Organise -
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. France, Union Communiste Libertaire AL #308 - Unionism,
Layoffs epidemic: the right vaccine is the fight ! (de, it, fr,
pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
Layoffs epidemic: the right vaccine is the fight ! (de, it, fr,
pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. France, Union Communiste Libertaire UCL - International,
"Bye-bye Moria": the libertarians of Greece with the refugees
(de, it, fr, pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
"Bye-bye Moria": the libertarians of Greece with the refugees
(de, it, fr, pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. France, Union Communiste Libertaire UCL - Unit call,
Solidarity with the popular democratic movement and
Solidarity with the popular democratic movement and
the strikes in Belarus (de, it, fr, pt)[machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Greece, [Thessaloniki] Gathering of solidarity in the
Courts. Libertatia occupation will remain! By APO [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
Courts. Libertatia occupation will remain! By APO [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. UK, Anarchist Federation: Shut Elbit Down -- every bomb that
is dropped is made somewhere, and where it is made it
is dropped is made somewhere, and where it is made it
can be resisted. (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
8. [Italy] Against the current authoritarian drift, against
parliamentarism and for a self-government of territories and
social self-management By ANA [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
In 1983, union activist Jane Slaughter wrote Concessions and How to Beat Them, which summarized the lessons of the 1980s crisis. for people
active in trade unions. The book was published by the Labor Notes team, which also published the author's updated introduction from July
2020, which considers the validity of the conclusions 40 years ago. Although Jane Slaughter is not an anarcho-syndicalist and the text
focuses on the North American context (and the auto industry), we think she has something to say to anyone involved in the struggles of the
workers. Especially during the ongoing coronary crisis, when we are witnessing pressures that lead to a deterioration in the lives and
conditions of workers.
BREEDS ... AND HOW NOT TO DO THEM, AFTER 40 YEARS:
Concessions did not work then and will not work now
Members and union members are waiting for attempts by employers to change existing agreements and push for concessions.
In fact, they may not even be called "concessions" today. In short, employers' demands, such as wage cuts and changes in work rules, will be
"common sense". They will say, "We all suffer, so we should all sacrifice." To save your place, you need to work with your employer.
Many of today's trade union leaders have not experienced negotiations in which there are no demands to reduce their own demands. In 1979,
the modern era of concessions began, so we have more than one generation of reductions, sometimes interrupted by gains in times when the
economy has prospered.
As a result, from the 1983 recovery to 2019, inflation-adjusted wages in unionized workplaces have remained at almost the same level (which
is still better than in the case of unionized workplaces). Wages have risen by an average of nine hundred percent a year for 36 years. This
means that if you made $ 600 in 1983, your salary increased by an average of 54 cents a year.
In 2020 and 2021, we again have to push for concessions as solutions that will preserve jobs. However, a cursory glance at the data suggests
that concessions do not preserve jobs.
THE GOOD GOOD TIMES
Let's take a look at how concessions began 40 years ago, how they defended themselves and what the statistics say. We will help us with an
example from the automotive industry, which was considered a benchmark for agreements in other sectors.
In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, any further agreement with the unions was better than before (in general). Unions and employers also counted
on this.
However, this statement has one big thing: wages and benefits have improved, but working conditions have not. Although the pressure of
employers on productivity growth intensified only in the 1980s, it took place in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
The iconic strike of this period took place in 1972 at the General Motors factory in Lordstown, Ohio. The reason was the dissatisfaction of
workers with the speed of the line (100 cars per hour). Walter Reuther, president of United Auto Workers (UAW), called car factories
"embellished sweatshops."
Profit margins began to decline in the 1970s, and employers were no longer willing to embellish. Chrysler Corp. set a precedent when, in the
fall of 1979, it asked the UAW to open a valid agreement. One of the representatives of another union later sadly stated for Labor Notes:
"Everything has changed since Chrysler."
Sure, it was under specific circumstances. Chrysler was in trouble and asked the government for emergency help. Unusual, however, was the
willing approval of the UAW. The concessions were not great from today's point of view. However, they set a trend.
A few months later, UAW unions in Chrysler accepted further concessions at the behest of Congress. It was a condition for the company to
obtain a loan guarantee. A year later, an even bigger concession came: a reduction in hourly wages of $ 1.15. In return, UAW President Doug
Fraser joined Chrysler's board of directors.
In early 1982, in the midst of the recession, the UAW also opened agreements with Ford and GM. GM President Roger Smith reiterated
everywhere: "We can't have a dual payroll industry." If GM workers earned more than Chrysler, we wouldn't be competitive.
HELPING COMPETITION
UAW leaders argued that it would be better for them to negotiate sooner than if they had to wait until the end of the year when they would
have a real right to strike (that is, when the deal expired). Proceeding on the basis of the so-called schematic negotiations (originally it
was a procedure in which new trade union agreements with companies should always be better than the previous ones and then be reflected in
negotiations in other companies, note. transl. ) working at Ford and GM almost reached the level of those at Chrysler.
GM had made a third of a billion dollars a year earlier.
These concessions were not without conflicts in the unions themselves. A coalition of Locals Opposed to Concessions was formed at GM. The
membership base's vote on concessions yielded close results - with 59 percent of the vote in Chrysler and 52 percent in GM.
Ordinary members were rather skeptical about the demands of the company's management compared to trade union leaders. Trade union leaders
complained that members did not understand things in a broader perspective. The unions, who were in daily contact with the management of the
companies, suspected that a bluff was coming.
It didn't take long for the employer to start dawning. If concessions can be made to the profitable GM, then everyone must succeed. Among
the profitable employers who took advantage of the situation were Kroger, UPS, Caterpillar, Texaco and Iowa Beef.
HOPE THAT JOBS WILL BE PRESERVED Concessions
were presented as a way to preserve jobs. But we already know that it didn't work. If we look at GM, for example, in 1979, 479,000 workers
worked in production. Today, there are about 49,000 of them, which is almost a 90 percent decrease.
There are many reasons why jobs have been lost not only in the car industry, and concessions are, of course, not the only ones.
However, the hope of keeping jobs was just hope anyway. The companies did not promise to maintain specific numbers of places. Voting for
concessions was like a pass from God (in American football it is a long desperate pass, especially at the end of the match in an attempt to
reverse the loss, but with little hope of success ) and the workers always only hoped that their company would be an exception.
Braniff Airlines, for example, accepted a 10 percent pay cut, but a year passed, the company went bankrupt and cut jobs by 9,000. The only
concessions were that people worked for less on the road to their redundancies.
Why couldn't the concessions keep jobs?
Wider circumstances. Firms' financial problems and major structural changes in the economy were too great for concessions to solve. Ford's
vice president admitted: "Factors outside of collective bargaining are far more important than what we can get from wages and benefits. Even
if we cut wages by half, we will still not be competitive. "
In the following decades, employers automated and relocated jobs abroad or to lower-paid areas in the United States. The concessions did not
stop these trends in any way. In fact, if you accepted wage cuts, you helped your employer buy a new robot.
Domino effect. It was unlikely that concessions would save individual companies because of the domino effect. When one employer made
concessions, the competition began to demand them. The result has been a reduction in wages everywhere.
Demand. Wage cuts are damaging the economy on the demand side. Workers with lower wages cannot buy that much.
The current economic catastrophe is greater than the recession of the early 1980s or the Great Recession of 2008. Demand for all sorts of
goods and services fell as a stone. Even if the wages of workers in the aviation sector, for example, were reduced to zero, there would be
no increase in customers' interest in traveling by air.
And what about "strong speech"?
The bogus preservation of jobs in some concession agreements had so many holes that it was worthless. If it was stated that "there will be
no redundancies caused by outsourcing", the management of companies was able to come up with another reason for redundancies, or reduce
stocks in the form of natural decline. Or simply break the agreement or its spirit.
The agreements with GM included declarations that it would be inadmissible to close factories. Soon, instead, there was talk instead of
"shutting down" in some factories. And later came a synonymous dictionary - since 2018, there has been talk of "non-allocation" of production.
OTHER CONSEQUENCES
In addition to the fact that concessions do not preserve jobs and actually lead to wage cuts, there are other reasons not to do so:
The first request for kindness is never the last. Businesses will come back and want more, and the second requirement is usually more
daring. Why not if the unions have shown a willingness?
Concessions concretise changes in labor rules that last longer than monetary compromises. Firms were not stupid when they demanded a break
in the autonomy and rights of workers so that they could breathe.
The media in the 1980s loved the phrase "restrictive rules on work." These contractual rights were presented to the public as maintaining
artificial overemployment. The right of workers to look for a better job has caused chaos in the labor market. Why should employers bear it?
Concessions in labor rules have made it increasingly difficult and harder to live a dignified life. Their aim was for fewer people to do
more work, for less emphasis on years worked, for shorter breaks in work and for employers to have even more power to manage workplaces in a
dictatorial spirit.
Workers do not receive anything in return , and if so, it is an ampoule with poison. In the 80s, the so-called a program of cooperation
between unions and management. It was promoted as a great victory. At a time when unions were the weakest, leaving bosses to decide on money
and rules on work, they also reportedly gained a great deal of power - they gained more "say" in deciding on working conditions.
Collaboration programs such as Quality of Work Life and Employee Involvement, in which workers sat down with management and discussed how
work could be done "better", actually became seedbed of manipulation, where management maneuvered workers to adopt a "solution" involving
dismissal.
The intention was to change the mentality of the workers from "us versus them" to thinking in a "how can I help leadership" style. The
workers were pitted against each other: five-leafers versus dinosaurs.
Concessions undermine solidarity and trade unions. They support the idea that the role of unions is to help leadership and compete with
workers in other companies. They provoke hostility among them, and at the same time the role of the trade unions should be to create a
common strategy on how to resist.
When newly recruited workers make concessions on the line (for example by creating a two-tier wage system), there is hostility in the
unions. And it is also true that concessions make it difficult to persuade people who are not yet organized to join. They do not need
unions, which will reduce their wages.
REBUILDINGS NEVER DISAPPEARED
In the 1980s, companies took the wrong time to force a redistribution of power in their favor - and in most industries, the period of
concessions is not over yet. Now the times are even worse. However, this does not mean that concessions are a necessity.
Trade unions should learn from the recent past. They should not decimate agreements and desperately hope that they will preserve jobs. They
will disappear anyway - that is the cruel truth.
The question is what places, with what agreements and to which workers' movement will the members of the unions return when the pandemic
finally subsides.
Translated from the Labor Notes website https://labornotes.org/concessions
Related articles:
Corona Crisis: We connect with people who have a similar view of things as we
Corona Crisis: We show that it makes sense to fight
Corona Crisis: We are not on the same boat!
Coronary Crisis: Let's Help Each Other
Goals and Principles
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Activities in 2000-2019
Publications
https://www.priamaakcia.sk/Koronakriza-Ustupky-a-ako-ich-nerobit.html
------------------------------
Message: 2
We acknowledge that the land that we have been meeting on, organising on, and living on is stolen land. It belongs to the traditional
custodians who never ceded their sovereignty to the colonial forces of Britain who, with brutal force and malicious cunning, invaded over
200 years ago. First Nations people have been engaged in a war of resistance ever since, and settlers must acknowledge their complicity in
the structures of hierarchy which have facilitated their domination, and strive to be genuine allies in this de-colonial resistance.
Colonialism is the product of the illegitimate hegemony of capitalism as facilitated by the state, whose falsified national borders justify
the racism and oppression which continues to affect Indigenous people, refugees, and ethnic minorities globally today. This is why
de-colonial struggle does not
exist in isolation; it is at the heart of our resistance to capitalism, the state, and interacts with all illegitimate hierarchies which
foster oppression and exploitation in these names.
We acknowledge the sovereignty of the Dharug, the Kuring-Gai, the Dharawal, the Comma,
the Cammeraigal, the Borogegal, the Garigal, the Cadigal, the Wangal, the Wllumattagal, the
Bidjigal, the Boorooberongal, the Cabrogal, and the Gweagal people, and any other nations
on whose land we reside in the so-called Sydney region. We pay our respects to elders past,
present, and emerging on each of these lands. We acknowledge that the ally-ship of settlers in
our spaces will more often than not be inadequate and require a constant state of re-learning,
however, we hope that that we can put into practice the principles of de-colonisation to the
best of our ability, and remain committed to the enactment of these principles.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY
3
SYDNEY ANARCHO-COMMUNISTS
INDEX
4
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF ANARCHO-COMMUNISM
Anonymous
6
AN ANARCHIST INTRODUCTION TO FEDERALISM
Daniel al-Rachid
13
HOW SHOULD ANARCHISTS UNDERSTAND THE "ACCORD
2.0?"
Toby Violet Walmsley
16
THE ABSOLUTE STATE OF ART UNDER CAPITALISM
Charlotte Murphy
19
ANARCHIST COMMUNIST POLITICAL ECONOMY AND
THE SPANISH REVOLUTION
Percy Hill
22
ON PASSIVITY: WHY THE STRATEGY OF NONVIOLENCE
WILL NEVER SEE THE REVOLUTION
Anonymous
25
FURTHER READINGS
SPECIAL THANKS
Cover Design - Stella MB
Artwork -Tilly Hobkirk
ON ANARCHY
The ideas of the ruling class have always been the ruling ideas. Much like under monarchies
the idea of a republic was synonymous with disorder and confusion, anarchy is misunderstood as a system of unruly chaos under today's
so-called representative democracy. Anarchy
strives for the abolition of government or of the State, not that of society.
The ruling capitalist class relies on ideologues, educators and the media to assure us that the
State is a neutral entity whose purpose is to maintain "law and order". This is a façade. In a
pamphlet published in 1891, Errico Malatesta defines the State not as one organisation, but a
"collection of institutions, political, legislative, judicial, military, financial, etc." that infringe upon
an individual's right to self-governance and serve as the instrument by which the capitalist
class exploits the labour of the workers.
The State is a top-down hierarchy, possessing the authority to create and enforce laws applicable to the whole of society with the
individual having little to no say in the policies dictating
their own affairs. Elected officials are not incorruptible bastions of brilliance and morality, able
to divine the best interests of individuals better than they themselves can and so it makes no
sense to perceive them as such. Under anarchy, decisions will be made by those affected by
them for those affected by them.
COLLECTIVISM AND COMMUNISM
In traditional communism, ownership of the means of production meant ownership by the
State. Collectivists, who argued that the social product was to be distributed "from each
according to their ability to each according to his work", disavowed communism on the grounds
that communism was fated to end with the centralisation of property at the hands of the State
as opposed to the workers', who were entitled to it.
Calcifero and Malatesta argued that differences in land fertility between different locations and
differences in "intellectual and physical endowment" between individuals made it impossible
to determine each individual's precise contribution to production. The argument was that
collectivism was bound therefore to result in competition and inequality, and so in 1876 congress
of the Italian branch of the International passed a resolution that replaced the collectivist
programme with the communist program that stated the social product was to be distributed
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF ANARCHO-COMMUNISM
Anonymous
4
SYDNEY ANARCHO-COMMUNISTS
"from each according to his ability to each according to his need".
PLATFORMISM AND POINTS OF UNITY
"The Platform" is a pamphlet co-written by Nestor Makhno that stresses the importance of
discipline, co-operation, shared theory and shared goals within an anarchist organisation.
Today, platformist groups aim to act on a common programme, to be organised and non-sectarian.
The four core ideas/points of unity platformist groups seek to develop are:
1. Theoretical Unity: members of a political group must generally have ideological unity/
fundamental points of agreement (e.g. communist or collectivist?), otherwise irreconcilable
disagreements between members will make organising and strategizing extremely difficult
2. Tactical Unity: members of the group should democratically agree upon a strategy and
then all members should work towards that strategy's success
3. Collective Action & Discipline: individual members have a responsibility to fulfill the
minimum expected commitment to the group and have a right to take part in and abide by the
collective decision-making process
4. Federalism: balance betweven independence and coherence - decisions made by those
affected by them for those affected by them, as opposed to centralism
https://www.redblacknotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/SydneyAncom_Bulletin-Aug-FINAL.pdf
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Message: 3
Since the Covid-19 crisis and the confinement that followed, layoffs have multiplied even though the companies concerned have decades of
profit behind them. Without a strong reaction, an explosion in unemployment is to be feared. ---- Many large groups are announcing layoffs
which are making the headlines: 4,600 jobs at Renault, 1,000 at Sanofi, 5,000 at Airbus, 7,600 at Air France ... For a total of 275
redundancy plans and 45,000 job losses. employment between 1 stMarch and 19 July. ---- These same groups were largely supported during the
Covid-19 crisis, in particular by the partial unemployment scheme which does not ask for a guarantee of job protection. Other gifts to
employers have existed for a long time, such as the tax credit for competitiveness and employment (CICE), the research tax credit (CIR), or
the Fillon exemption on low wages.
Job blackmail is commonplace to push employees to accept wage cuts in exchange for keeping their jobs. This is what happened in the
Derichebourg company, and the employees who refused will be fired ! But behind these well-known companies, there are the chains of
subcontractors who also lay off ; there are all the jobs that depend on the presence of big companies in the sector ; and then hundreds of
small companies which file for bankruptcy, and which also apply social plans and blackmail to employment. Most sectors are affected.
Unemployment and precariousness
In addition to these battalions of new unemployed and new unemployed women who are added to those who were already deprived of a job, there
are also the many non-renewed fixed-term contracts and temporary contracts, not to mention the jobs disguised as self-entrepreneurship. The
precariousness of the labor market allows companies to absorb part of the shock of the crisis ; the facilities for carrying out layoff plans
absorb another part of it.
Mobilizations are starting
Indeed, collective dismissals without serious economic reasons are now possible. Worse, a boss can file for bankruptcy, and buy back all or
part of the business ! This is what the Mulliez family (26 billion euros, 6efortune de France) is doing to get rid of 1,000 employees in
Alinea furniture stores, without having to pay for the layoffs ! The employers have in reality never had any difficulty in manipulating
their accounting figures to have the "right" to lay off, but it is even easier today.
The promise of successive governments was that making the labor market more "fluid" (that is to say being able to dismiss a worker like
throwing a hole in the sock) would allow companies to be kept and therefore employment in France. It was a lie.
Several mobilizations of workers threatened with dismissal began to erupt during the summer. They are generally supported by business
unions, even if some sign unbearable agreements. There are two main types of employee claims.
Some fight above all to keep their job. This is the case of this worker at the Smart factory in Moselle who announced during the
demonstration on July 24: "We are not fighting for a check but for a job.Others, probably thinking that the game is lost in advance, want
compensation for their dismissal.
This is how Alinea employees in Beaucouzé in Maine-et-Loire displayed signs during their rally with the inscriptions: "We are not asking for
the moon, we just want our money", "Mr. Mulliez , billionaire not in solidarity". Some also highlight the importance of the establishment of
the company for the entire local economic and social fabric, such as the demonstration by Nokia employees on July 8, which chanted:
"Relocation = death of Lannion".
On the one hand, the struggles against layoffs are often characterized by local roots, they concern an entire city, a region. Particularly
in small and medium-sized towns where "everyone goes to a demonstration", because everyone in their family and friendly circle has someone
who works in the company and sees what the closure will entail. This is why the local and departmental unions will have to play a central
role as binders in an employment pool.
Unite so as not to suffer
On the other hand, the subject of unemployment insurance will have to be put back on the table, in order to give a more global meaning to
the question of layoffs, and to show that the problem really concerns everyone. Not only to include those who have the most precarious
contracts, or no contract at all, but also to update the harmful aspects of the "flexibilisation" of the labor market. The more people who
are unemployed, and the more difficult they live with unemployment benefit, the more they will accept poor working conditions and pay. This
allows employers to maintain and increase their profits.
The crisis and the layoffs today are different from those of the 2008 crisis. If this time again we have windfall social plans or linked to
previous choices by company management (Nokia for example), a large proportion of layoffs will be real economic layoffs. And that is a game
changer. The classic slogan "prohibiting layoffs" will have little meaning when the stake is the bankruptcy of a large number of companies,
or even entire industrial sectors. The workers in every company adjust their demands to what they think they can get. And this will be all
the higher the more we are united to defend these jobs.
It should be remembered that the bosses who lay off today, risking plunging tens of thousands of people into misery, have their pockets
full, filled with the work of the employees, including during confinement. This is why the slogan of "workers'right of veto" on layoffs must
be carried out, in order to highlight that decisions must be in the hands of those who create the profit. The CGT and Solidaires are calling
for a day of strike action to defend jobs on September 17. We must build this date in companies, as close as possible to the demands of the
employees, and give it political perspectives to make it a step in the construction of a strong movement.
Adèle (UCL Pantin)
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Epidemie-de-licenciements-le-bon-vaccin-c-est-la-lutte
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Message: 4
[Photos] Huge demonstrations of support for refugees took place on Friday September 11 in Athens and Crete, led in particular by
anarcho-syndicalists. "Burning Mora is not a crime. The existence of Moria, that is the crime ". ---- Emotions run high in Greece following
the fire in the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos. It is currently the No. 1 social issue in the country. ---- The Conservative
government accuses the refugees of having started the fire themselves. The far right shoots a video in which we see a child from the camp
exclaiming " bye-bye Moria ", and uses it to imply that the refugees are happy with the tragedy in progress, and shoot in derision their
distress.
The Rocinante Anarcho-Syndicalist Initiative, the largest libertarian organization in Greece, turned the stigma around by making " Bye-bye
Moria " a slogan of solidarity. The organization asserts that one cannot know who set Moria on fire but that, in any case, one has the
right to burn Moria, Moria is such a shame.
The coronavirus, the spark that ignited the powder
Due to the policy of blocking refugees on Lesbos by the government, this camp intended for 3,000 people has, in a few months, jumped to
6,000, then to 20,000 people crammed in nightmarish conditions. The worst was reached when, following the discovery of 40 cases of Covid-19,
the Greek authorities locked the camp, voluntarily creating a giant cluster, with no escape for the refugees condemned to rapid contamination.
It was in these circumstances that the fire occurred. Now the government is talking about rebuilding Moria, with a stricter dimension of
confinement - that is to say a concentration camp, in the true sense of the term, like those where the Spanish refugees were parked. es in
France in 1939.
Friday, September 11, a demonstration of solidarity brought together 8,000 people in Athens, including 1,500 in the anarcho-syndicalist
procession. But the most impressive demonstration took place in Chania, Crete, with 6,000 demonstrators for a city of 60,000 inhabitants.
September 11, 2020 in Athens (Greece)
On the banner: "Bye-bye Moria ! Freedom of movement and installation in cities. Solidarity with refugees. Rocinante anarcho-syndicalist
initiative "
September 11, 2020 in Athens.
"Burning Moria is not a crime. The existence of Moria, that is the crime. Rocinante "
"Beyond nihilism, all of us, among the ruins, are preparing for a rebirth" (Albert Camus, L'Homme revolté ).
September 11, 2020 in Athens (Greece)
September 11, 2020 in Chania (Crete)
00:0000:00
September 11, 2020 in Chania (Crete)
6,000 people marched in solidarity with the migrants in the Moria camp, which was set on fire.
This demonstration was also an opportunity to protest against the expulsion of Rosa Negra, a self-managed social center in Chania, which
housed refugees.
The Rocinante anarcho-syndicalist Initiative calls for the closure of Moria, as well as all the camps and detention structures ; the freedom
of movement and installation of refugees in cities (and not in no man's land as it is now), papers for all, and an end to expulsions.
Guillaume Davranche (UCL Montreuil)
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Bye-bye-Moria-les-libertaires-de-Grece-avec-les-refugie-es
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Message: 5
Since August 11, 2020 a general political strike has been engaged in Belarus / Belarus. Strike committees have been elected in the largest
factories and mines in the country. Independent unions are growing, however, as official unions are deserted by workers. The UCL is part of
this united call for solidarity with the popular movement in Belarus. ---- Since August 11, 2020 a general political strike has been engaged
in Belarus / Belarus on the following demands: departure of President-dictator Lukachenko, release of all prisoners and all political
prisoners, free elections. ---- Strike committees have been elected in the largest factories and mines in the country. They seek to federate
nationally but their members are often arrested. Independent unions are growing, however, as official unions are deserted by workers.
Supported by this strike movement, the demonstrations for the departure of Lukachenko have resumed since August 11 and involve every Sunday
around a million demonstrators in this country of 10 million inhabitants, including hundreds of thousands in its capital, Minsk. Since the
start of the school year on August 31, young students and high school students are also in the street.
The social content of democratic demands is the exercise of power by the majority, and therefore, for example, the end of compulsory
fixed-term contracts and individual employment contracts in this capitalist paradise that is Belarus.
Women, from the start, have occupied a special, assertive and powerful place in this movement in all its forms.
The repression officially caused 3 deaths, and around 80 " disappeared ". 10,000 people were kidnapped by the Omon and sentenced to terms,
most often a few days in prison during which beatings, torture, rape ...
European political leaders have taken a position to call for an " end to violence " only very late in view of a situation that worries
them, because the people want to oust a president !
The sympathy of neighboring peoples is very strong, especially that of the Russian people. Putin has been supporting Lukachenko ever since
he called for help and pledged to comply with his conditions. The intervention of the state, the army and the Russian " organs " is beyond
doubt. But it is unpopular in Russia, where even official unions have to speak out against sending troops as scabs.
The open revolution in Belarus aims at real democracy ; the working class, women and youth are the spearhead ; it is inscribed both in a
long history referring to the struggles of the peoples of central and eastern Europe in the time of the USSR, and in the current wave of
political crises and insurgencies throughout the world. One cannot speak of solidarity, Europe and internationalism without speaking out in
favor of the defense, protection, active support for the Belarusian people and the Belarusian general strike.
This is why, and in particular following the positions taken by several French trade union organizations, our organizations call for:
Supporting the struggle of the people of Belarus for democratic freedoms, and the strikes of workers in this country.
To relay the information transmitted by the organizations, collectives, activists and progressive militants of Belarus, in order to make
known the situation there and to fight the repression of the Belarusian state.
In Paris, we will call for a rally in front of the Belarusian embassy in the coming days.
Signatory organizations (list to be completed):
Arguments for the social struggle (APSL)
Center for studies and initiatives of international solidarity (CEDETIM)
Social criticism
Emancipation, inter-union trend
Together ! - Democratic and Social Left (GDS)
The insurgent
New anti-capitalist party (NPA)
For a popular and social ecology (PEPS)
Feminist network " Ruptures "
Section of correctors of the General Book
Union written communication CGT Union communiste libertaire (UCL)
Union syndicale Solidarity
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Solidarite-avec-le-mouvement-populaire-democratique-et-les-greves-au-Belarus
------------------------------
Message: 6
SOLIDARITY TO THE PERSECUTED FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF ---- In January 2018, the occupation of Libertatia burns completely after an
incendiary attack by fascists. An attack that took place during the nationalist rallies of that period and with the cover of the police
forces. Immediately, the comrades of the occupation decide to proceed with the reconstruction of the building, in order to give a practical
and decisive answer to both the state and its parastatal gangs. ---- The start of work, the expression of political and material solidarity
by comrades both nationwide and internationally, the persistence and effectiveness of the Libertatia squatters, could not leave the state
mechanism indifferent. Thus, on November 8, 2019, during the reconstruction work, police forces invaded the area of occupation and carried
out 4 arrests.
Since then, the process of rebuilding the occupation has been in the focus of repression and its stated goal is to prevent it. Cops along
with the tax office of newer monuments invade the occupation in order to obstruct the works, to terrorize those involved in them and to
burden the militants financially. The result of these three invasions to date is the theft of reconstruction tools during the last two as
well as the arrests of militants, most recently those of the twelve comrades in August 2020.
The state crackdown on the occupation and the militants involved in its reconstruction is the continuation of the arson of Libertatia by a
group of fascists under the full tolerance and cover of the police forces during the nationalist rally in January 2018, at the same time are
fully part of the repression campaign that has been going on for the last year. A repressive plan that targets both the social and class
resistances that are developing from below, as well as the anarchist movement, with the squatting not having stopped at the center for a
moment. In the condition of fear and submission that the state and the bosses want to impose, the squatters as visible points of resistance
must be hit immediately, decisively and exemplary.
The comrades of Libertatia, in spite of the times, lifted the weight of the reconstruction, faced many obstacles and today they have made
significant progress in the reconstruction of the occupation. Which is a clear victory for the anarchist movement and for the world of
struggle, highlighting how much we can achieve with our weapons self-organization and solidarity. On September 17, those arrested by the
invasion in November 2019 will be in court to defend their choice to rebuild the burned building of the occupation, to prove in practice
that the world of struggle, the anarchists, the occupiers do not surrender. They fight and win.
AGAINST STATE SUPPRESSION, NOT A STEP BACK!
SOLIDARITY IN LIBERTATIA - HANDS OUT OF THE OCCUPATIONS
RALLY OF SOLIDARITY IN THE COURTS OF THESSALONIKI ON THURSDAY 17 SEPTEMBER AT 9.00
ANARCHIST POLITICAL ORGANIZATION FEDERATION OF COLLECTIVES
------------------------------
Message: 7
Palestine Action ---- We've occupied the roof and entering the second day. Windows are smashed and red paint is covering the front. There
has been a media silence on our action, and we refuse to be silenced. So we're calling on everyone who supports us to send this press
release far and wide. We're still on the roof at UAV Engines, Lynn La, Lichfield, WS14 0DT ---- Press release: ---- 3 activists who locked
on to close the gates of Israeli arms company, UAV Engines were arrested yesterday while 5 protesters continue to occupy the roof into a
second day. ---- On Monday other supporters came to join the demonstration. The entire front of the factory remained covered in the red
paint symbolising the blood spilt by the use of the weapons made by Elbit Systems. Many of the windows of the factorywere smashed. Pictures
of Palestinian children killed by Israel were on display along the front of the factory along with banners reading "Elbit weapons, tested on
Palestinians". While speeches from the roof and the ground drew direct links between the weapons being built in the factory and Israel's
regular attacks against the Palestinians.
At 4pm the 3 activists who had locked on at the front gates were arrested. Police threatened to arrest the protesters on the roof but have
so far not removed the activists.
They had originally scaled the building in the early hours of Monday morning, others locked on in front of the gates. Chains were also used
to close the gates shut. They are calling for the factory and all Elbit Systems sites to be shut down in the UK, and an end to UK complicity
with Israeli apartheid.
Elbit Systems openly market their weapons as "field-tested" on Palestinian civilians in Gaza. They provide the Israeli military with over
80% of its military drone fleet, which is used to terrorise and massacre Palestinians in Gaza. These drones include the military drones
Hermes 900 and Hermes 450 which were employed extensively during the 51 day attack on Gaza in 2014, which killed over 2200 Palestinians
including 500 children. Elbit has also recently won the contract to surveill and stop migrants and refugees trying to arrive to UK shores.
UAV Engines produce the engines for Elbits drones.
Palestine Action as a grassroots network of activists dedicated to ending Israeli apartheid, occupation and colonization, has been active
for just over a month. In this month, they have held over 15 successful actions targeting the company. Palestine Action's growing popularity
has begun to be seen as a threat to both Elbit's business in the UK and Israel's apartheid regime.
At a recent meeting between Israel's Minister of Strategic Affairs Orit Farkash and the British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Minister
Farkash demanded that the British government take action against the growing BDS campaign protesting both Elbit Systems and Israel's
apartheid regime, specifically referring to the successful actions of Palestine Action.
Quote: "The UK government has been complicit in the colonisation of Palestine for over 100 years. Now they continue to profit from, sustain
and facilitate Israel's apartheid regime. While our government continues to turn a blind eye to Elbit Systems continuing to arm Israel's war
crimes against the Palestinian people, we too will continue to disrupt and take direct action for the sake of human rights, justice and
freedom. We call on all those who stand against racism and for humanity to take action, join us and shut Elbit down for good."
Contact number: 07514668600
facebook.com/Anarchistfederation/posts/4996225950402783
------------------------------
Message: 8
For us, anarchists, the government, the Parliament, whatever its form in a given historical context, always remains the expression of the
dominance of a privileged caste over the vast majority of the population. ---- On September 20 and 21, the referendum will be held to
confirm or reject the decision taken almost unanimously by the current Parliament to reduce the number of parliamentarians: 230 members of
parliament and 115 senators. This operation will save each Italian about 1 euro per year. If the goal is to save money, cutting military
spending, which costs 70 million euros a day, would have had a much greater impact and the economy could have been used to improve health,
education, transport and the environment.
The Right, the 5 Star Movement and the so-called Left have in fact established a project for the demolition of bourgeois democracy and the
centralization of decision-making power in a few hands, the same as that of Licio Gelli and P2 with the "Plan for Democratic Rebirth ".
After the 345 cut, why don't we cut all parliamentarians? And then why not consider a single man in charge, with full powers? What better
cost savings than politics!
These parties, with their demagogy, are increasingly poisoning a population that has been affected by racist delusions and has also been
affected in recent months by the pandemic shock. Changing some of the rules of bourgeois democracy itself and its electoral practice, which
is based on the representation of popular sovereignty through the exercise of voting as a presumed form of participation and legitimacy of
state power, is a sign of a continuous authoritarian drift that is beginning to take shape in the reduction of the relationship between
"representatives of the people" and the number of inhabitants, in the dismantling of entire electoral colleges, penalizing the less populous
colleges and regions, exterminating linguistic minorities and Italians much courted abroad, in the concentration of power in the main parties ,
The phase that we are going through, with all the totalitarian and repressive unknowns that the so-called fight against Covid-19 has already
highlighted, is extremely dangerous and leads to a liberalist dictatorship that has as its premise the whip for the people, the prison for
the opposition, the religious and fanatical cult for a new figure of the Chief.
It is not a vote that will change our destiny, especially in the next referendum. Parliamentarism is the other side of dictatorship and
totalitarianism, a form of corrupt and subjugated participation in the domain of caste and capital lobbies, which have in their hands the
levers of power and the tools for mass control. Capital is neither democratic nor undemocratic, but it evaluates and promotes what best
satisfies your desire for profit, always ready to change the method of government if it considers it necessary to preserve power and privilege.
To combat the current liberal and totalitarian tendency, we do not need referendums or elections, but direct democracy, self-government,
self-management, re-appropriation of politics from below, in communities, in territories, to radically change society and be able to achieve
concrete improvements. and lasting in our lives.
We fight for a society without government and without parliaments, where decisions are made by assemblies of free and thinking women and
men, linked in a horizontal network of federations involving the largest number of citizens, with the utmost respect for all opinions and
all differences. We are in favor of a stateless society.
Sicilian Anarchist Federation
fas.corrispondenza@inventati.org - 2-9-2020
Source: https://www.umanitanova.org/?p=12718
Translation> Liberto
anarchist news agency-ana
------------------------------
parliamentarism and for a self-government of territories and
social self-management By ANA [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
In 1983, union activist Jane Slaughter wrote Concessions and How to Beat Them, which summarized the lessons of the 1980s crisis. for people
active in trade unions. The book was published by the Labor Notes team, which also published the author's updated introduction from July
2020, which considers the validity of the conclusions 40 years ago. Although Jane Slaughter is not an anarcho-syndicalist and the text
focuses on the North American context (and the auto industry), we think she has something to say to anyone involved in the struggles of the
workers. Especially during the ongoing coronary crisis, when we are witnessing pressures that lead to a deterioration in the lives and
conditions of workers.
BREEDS ... AND HOW NOT TO DO THEM, AFTER 40 YEARS:
Concessions did not work then and will not work now
Members and union members are waiting for attempts by employers to change existing agreements and push for concessions.
In fact, they may not even be called "concessions" today. In short, employers' demands, such as wage cuts and changes in work rules, will be
"common sense". They will say, "We all suffer, so we should all sacrifice." To save your place, you need to work with your employer.
Many of today's trade union leaders have not experienced negotiations in which there are no demands to reduce their own demands. In 1979,
the modern era of concessions began, so we have more than one generation of reductions, sometimes interrupted by gains in times when the
economy has prospered.
As a result, from the 1983 recovery to 2019, inflation-adjusted wages in unionized workplaces have remained at almost the same level (which
is still better than in the case of unionized workplaces). Wages have risen by an average of nine hundred percent a year for 36 years. This
means that if you made $ 600 in 1983, your salary increased by an average of 54 cents a year.
In 2020 and 2021, we again have to push for concessions as solutions that will preserve jobs. However, a cursory glance at the data suggests
that concessions do not preserve jobs.
THE GOOD GOOD TIMES
Let's take a look at how concessions began 40 years ago, how they defended themselves and what the statistics say. We will help us with an
example from the automotive industry, which was considered a benchmark for agreements in other sectors.
In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, any further agreement with the unions was better than before (in general). Unions and employers also counted
on this.
However, this statement has one big thing: wages and benefits have improved, but working conditions have not. Although the pressure of
employers on productivity growth intensified only in the 1980s, it took place in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
The iconic strike of this period took place in 1972 at the General Motors factory in Lordstown, Ohio. The reason was the dissatisfaction of
workers with the speed of the line (100 cars per hour). Walter Reuther, president of United Auto Workers (UAW), called car factories
"embellished sweatshops."
Profit margins began to decline in the 1970s, and employers were no longer willing to embellish. Chrysler Corp. set a precedent when, in the
fall of 1979, it asked the UAW to open a valid agreement. One of the representatives of another union later sadly stated for Labor Notes:
"Everything has changed since Chrysler."
Sure, it was under specific circumstances. Chrysler was in trouble and asked the government for emergency help. Unusual, however, was the
willing approval of the UAW. The concessions were not great from today's point of view. However, they set a trend.
A few months later, UAW unions in Chrysler accepted further concessions at the behest of Congress. It was a condition for the company to
obtain a loan guarantee. A year later, an even bigger concession came: a reduction in hourly wages of $ 1.15. In return, UAW President Doug
Fraser joined Chrysler's board of directors.
In early 1982, in the midst of the recession, the UAW also opened agreements with Ford and GM. GM President Roger Smith reiterated
everywhere: "We can't have a dual payroll industry." If GM workers earned more than Chrysler, we wouldn't be competitive.
HELPING COMPETITION
UAW leaders argued that it would be better for them to negotiate sooner than if they had to wait until the end of the year when they would
have a real right to strike (that is, when the deal expired). Proceeding on the basis of the so-called schematic negotiations (originally it
was a procedure in which new trade union agreements with companies should always be better than the previous ones and then be reflected in
negotiations in other companies, note. transl. ) working at Ford and GM almost reached the level of those at Chrysler.
GM had made a third of a billion dollars a year earlier.
These concessions were not without conflicts in the unions themselves. A coalition of Locals Opposed to Concessions was formed at GM. The
membership base's vote on concessions yielded close results - with 59 percent of the vote in Chrysler and 52 percent in GM.
Ordinary members were rather skeptical about the demands of the company's management compared to trade union leaders. Trade union leaders
complained that members did not understand things in a broader perspective. The unions, who were in daily contact with the management of the
companies, suspected that a bluff was coming.
It didn't take long for the employer to start dawning. If concessions can be made to the profitable GM, then everyone must succeed. Among
the profitable employers who took advantage of the situation were Kroger, UPS, Caterpillar, Texaco and Iowa Beef.
HOPE THAT JOBS WILL BE PRESERVED Concessions
were presented as a way to preserve jobs. But we already know that it didn't work. If we look at GM, for example, in 1979, 479,000 workers
worked in production. Today, there are about 49,000 of them, which is almost a 90 percent decrease.
There are many reasons why jobs have been lost not only in the car industry, and concessions are, of course, not the only ones.
However, the hope of keeping jobs was just hope anyway. The companies did not promise to maintain specific numbers of places. Voting for
concessions was like a pass from God (in American football it is a long desperate pass, especially at the end of the match in an attempt to
reverse the loss, but with little hope of success ) and the workers always only hoped that their company would be an exception.
Braniff Airlines, for example, accepted a 10 percent pay cut, but a year passed, the company went bankrupt and cut jobs by 9,000. The only
concessions were that people worked for less on the road to their redundancies.
Why couldn't the concessions keep jobs?
Wider circumstances. Firms' financial problems and major structural changes in the economy were too great for concessions to solve. Ford's
vice president admitted: "Factors outside of collective bargaining are far more important than what we can get from wages and benefits. Even
if we cut wages by half, we will still not be competitive. "
In the following decades, employers automated and relocated jobs abroad or to lower-paid areas in the United States. The concessions did not
stop these trends in any way. In fact, if you accepted wage cuts, you helped your employer buy a new robot.
Domino effect. It was unlikely that concessions would save individual companies because of the domino effect. When one employer made
concessions, the competition began to demand them. The result has been a reduction in wages everywhere.
Demand. Wage cuts are damaging the economy on the demand side. Workers with lower wages cannot buy that much.
The current economic catastrophe is greater than the recession of the early 1980s or the Great Recession of 2008. Demand for all sorts of
goods and services fell as a stone. Even if the wages of workers in the aviation sector, for example, were reduced to zero, there would be
no increase in customers' interest in traveling by air.
And what about "strong speech"?
The bogus preservation of jobs in some concession agreements had so many holes that it was worthless. If it was stated that "there will be
no redundancies caused by outsourcing", the management of companies was able to come up with another reason for redundancies, or reduce
stocks in the form of natural decline. Or simply break the agreement or its spirit.
The agreements with GM included declarations that it would be inadmissible to close factories. Soon, instead, there was talk instead of
"shutting down" in some factories. And later came a synonymous dictionary - since 2018, there has been talk of "non-allocation" of production.
OTHER CONSEQUENCES
In addition to the fact that concessions do not preserve jobs and actually lead to wage cuts, there are other reasons not to do so:
The first request for kindness is never the last. Businesses will come back and want more, and the second requirement is usually more
daring. Why not if the unions have shown a willingness?
Concessions concretise changes in labor rules that last longer than monetary compromises. Firms were not stupid when they demanded a break
in the autonomy and rights of workers so that they could breathe.
The media in the 1980s loved the phrase "restrictive rules on work." These contractual rights were presented to the public as maintaining
artificial overemployment. The right of workers to look for a better job has caused chaos in the labor market. Why should employers bear it?
Concessions in labor rules have made it increasingly difficult and harder to live a dignified life. Their aim was for fewer people to do
more work, for less emphasis on years worked, for shorter breaks in work and for employers to have even more power to manage workplaces in a
dictatorial spirit.
Workers do not receive anything in return , and if so, it is an ampoule with poison. In the 80s, the so-called a program of cooperation
between unions and management. It was promoted as a great victory. At a time when unions were the weakest, leaving bosses to decide on money
and rules on work, they also reportedly gained a great deal of power - they gained more "say" in deciding on working conditions.
Collaboration programs such as Quality of Work Life and Employee Involvement, in which workers sat down with management and discussed how
work could be done "better", actually became seedbed of manipulation, where management maneuvered workers to adopt a "solution" involving
dismissal.
The intention was to change the mentality of the workers from "us versus them" to thinking in a "how can I help leadership" style. The
workers were pitted against each other: five-leafers versus dinosaurs.
Concessions undermine solidarity and trade unions. They support the idea that the role of unions is to help leadership and compete with
workers in other companies. They provoke hostility among them, and at the same time the role of the trade unions should be to create a
common strategy on how to resist.
When newly recruited workers make concessions on the line (for example by creating a two-tier wage system), there is hostility in the
unions. And it is also true that concessions make it difficult to persuade people who are not yet organized to join. They do not need
unions, which will reduce their wages.
REBUILDINGS NEVER DISAPPEARED
In the 1980s, companies took the wrong time to force a redistribution of power in their favor - and in most industries, the period of
concessions is not over yet. Now the times are even worse. However, this does not mean that concessions are a necessity.
Trade unions should learn from the recent past. They should not decimate agreements and desperately hope that they will preserve jobs. They
will disappear anyway - that is the cruel truth.
The question is what places, with what agreements and to which workers' movement will the members of the unions return when the pandemic
finally subsides.
Translated from the Labor Notes website https://labornotes.org/concessions
Related articles:
Corona Crisis: We connect with people who have a similar view of things as we
Corona Crisis: We show that it makes sense to fight
Corona Crisis: We are not on the same boat!
Coronary Crisis: Let's Help Each Other
Goals and Principles
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Activities in 2000-2019
Publications
https://www.priamaakcia.sk/Koronakriza-Ustupky-a-ako-ich-nerobit.html
------------------------------
Message: 2
We acknowledge that the land that we have been meeting on, organising on, and living on is stolen land. It belongs to the traditional
custodians who never ceded their sovereignty to the colonial forces of Britain who, with brutal force and malicious cunning, invaded over
200 years ago. First Nations people have been engaged in a war of resistance ever since, and settlers must acknowledge their complicity in
the structures of hierarchy which have facilitated their domination, and strive to be genuine allies in this de-colonial resistance.
Colonialism is the product of the illegitimate hegemony of capitalism as facilitated by the state, whose falsified national borders justify
the racism and oppression which continues to affect Indigenous people, refugees, and ethnic minorities globally today. This is why
de-colonial struggle does not
exist in isolation; it is at the heart of our resistance to capitalism, the state, and interacts with all illegitimate hierarchies which
foster oppression and exploitation in these names.
We acknowledge the sovereignty of the Dharug, the Kuring-Gai, the Dharawal, the Comma,
the Cammeraigal, the Borogegal, the Garigal, the Cadigal, the Wangal, the Wllumattagal, the
Bidjigal, the Boorooberongal, the Cabrogal, and the Gweagal people, and any other nations
on whose land we reside in the so-called Sydney region. We pay our respects to elders past,
present, and emerging on each of these lands. We acknowledge that the ally-ship of settlers in
our spaces will more often than not be inadequate and require a constant state of re-learning,
however, we hope that that we can put into practice the principles of de-colonisation to the
best of our ability, and remain committed to the enactment of these principles.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY
3
SYDNEY ANARCHO-COMMUNISTS
INDEX
4
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF ANARCHO-COMMUNISM
Anonymous
6
AN ANARCHIST INTRODUCTION TO FEDERALISM
Daniel al-Rachid
13
HOW SHOULD ANARCHISTS UNDERSTAND THE "ACCORD
2.0?"
Toby Violet Walmsley
16
THE ABSOLUTE STATE OF ART UNDER CAPITALISM
Charlotte Murphy
19
ANARCHIST COMMUNIST POLITICAL ECONOMY AND
THE SPANISH REVOLUTION
Percy Hill
22
ON PASSIVITY: WHY THE STRATEGY OF NONVIOLENCE
WILL NEVER SEE THE REVOLUTION
Anonymous
25
FURTHER READINGS
SPECIAL THANKS
Cover Design - Stella MB
Artwork -Tilly Hobkirk
ON ANARCHY
The ideas of the ruling class have always been the ruling ideas. Much like under monarchies
the idea of a republic was synonymous with disorder and confusion, anarchy is misunderstood as a system of unruly chaos under today's
so-called representative democracy. Anarchy
strives for the abolition of government or of the State, not that of society.
The ruling capitalist class relies on ideologues, educators and the media to assure us that the
State is a neutral entity whose purpose is to maintain "law and order". This is a façade. In a
pamphlet published in 1891, Errico Malatesta defines the State not as one organisation, but a
"collection of institutions, political, legislative, judicial, military, financial, etc." that infringe upon
an individual's right to self-governance and serve as the instrument by which the capitalist
class exploits the labour of the workers.
The State is a top-down hierarchy, possessing the authority to create and enforce laws applicable to the whole of society with the
individual having little to no say in the policies dictating
their own affairs. Elected officials are not incorruptible bastions of brilliance and morality, able
to divine the best interests of individuals better than they themselves can and so it makes no
sense to perceive them as such. Under anarchy, decisions will be made by those affected by
them for those affected by them.
COLLECTIVISM AND COMMUNISM
In traditional communism, ownership of the means of production meant ownership by the
State. Collectivists, who argued that the social product was to be distributed "from each
according to their ability to each according to his work", disavowed communism on the grounds
that communism was fated to end with the centralisation of property at the hands of the State
as opposed to the workers', who were entitled to it.
Calcifero and Malatesta argued that differences in land fertility between different locations and
differences in "intellectual and physical endowment" between individuals made it impossible
to determine each individual's precise contribution to production. The argument was that
collectivism was bound therefore to result in competition and inequality, and so in 1876 congress
of the Italian branch of the International passed a resolution that replaced the collectivist
programme with the communist program that stated the social product was to be distributed
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF ANARCHO-COMMUNISM
Anonymous
4
SYDNEY ANARCHO-COMMUNISTS
"from each according to his ability to each according to his need".
PLATFORMISM AND POINTS OF UNITY
"The Platform" is a pamphlet co-written by Nestor Makhno that stresses the importance of
discipline, co-operation, shared theory and shared goals within an anarchist organisation.
Today, platformist groups aim to act on a common programme, to be organised and non-sectarian.
The four core ideas/points of unity platformist groups seek to develop are:
1. Theoretical Unity: members of a political group must generally have ideological unity/
fundamental points of agreement (e.g. communist or collectivist?), otherwise irreconcilable
disagreements between members will make organising and strategizing extremely difficult
2. Tactical Unity: members of the group should democratically agree upon a strategy and
then all members should work towards that strategy's success
3. Collective Action & Discipline: individual members have a responsibility to fulfill the
minimum expected commitment to the group and have a right to take part in and abide by the
collective decision-making process
4. Federalism: balance betweven independence and coherence - decisions made by those
affected by them for those affected by them, as opposed to centralism
https://www.redblacknotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/SydneyAncom_Bulletin-Aug-FINAL.pdf
------------------------------
Message: 3
Since the Covid-19 crisis and the confinement that followed, layoffs have multiplied even though the companies concerned have decades of
profit behind them. Without a strong reaction, an explosion in unemployment is to be feared. ---- Many large groups are announcing layoffs
which are making the headlines: 4,600 jobs at Renault, 1,000 at Sanofi, 5,000 at Airbus, 7,600 at Air France ... For a total of 275
redundancy plans and 45,000 job losses. employment between 1 stMarch and 19 July. ---- These same groups were largely supported during the
Covid-19 crisis, in particular by the partial unemployment scheme which does not ask for a guarantee of job protection. Other gifts to
employers have existed for a long time, such as the tax credit for competitiveness and employment (CICE), the research tax credit (CIR), or
the Fillon exemption on low wages.
Job blackmail is commonplace to push employees to accept wage cuts in exchange for keeping their jobs. This is what happened in the
Derichebourg company, and the employees who refused will be fired ! But behind these well-known companies, there are the chains of
subcontractors who also lay off ; there are all the jobs that depend on the presence of big companies in the sector ; and then hundreds of
small companies which file for bankruptcy, and which also apply social plans and blackmail to employment. Most sectors are affected.
Unemployment and precariousness
In addition to these battalions of new unemployed and new unemployed women who are added to those who were already deprived of a job, there
are also the many non-renewed fixed-term contracts and temporary contracts, not to mention the jobs disguised as self-entrepreneurship. The
precariousness of the labor market allows companies to absorb part of the shock of the crisis ; the facilities for carrying out layoff plans
absorb another part of it.
Mobilizations are starting
Indeed, collective dismissals without serious economic reasons are now possible. Worse, a boss can file for bankruptcy, and buy back all or
part of the business ! This is what the Mulliez family (26 billion euros, 6efortune de France) is doing to get rid of 1,000 employees in
Alinea furniture stores, without having to pay for the layoffs ! The employers have in reality never had any difficulty in manipulating
their accounting figures to have the "right" to lay off, but it is even easier today.
The promise of successive governments was that making the labor market more "fluid" (that is to say being able to dismiss a worker like
throwing a hole in the sock) would allow companies to be kept and therefore employment in France. It was a lie.
Several mobilizations of workers threatened with dismissal began to erupt during the summer. They are generally supported by business
unions, even if some sign unbearable agreements. There are two main types of employee claims.
Some fight above all to keep their job. This is the case of this worker at the Smart factory in Moselle who announced during the
demonstration on July 24: "We are not fighting for a check but for a job.Others, probably thinking that the game is lost in advance, want
compensation for their dismissal.
This is how Alinea employees in Beaucouzé in Maine-et-Loire displayed signs during their rally with the inscriptions: "We are not asking for
the moon, we just want our money", "Mr. Mulliez , billionaire not in solidarity". Some also highlight the importance of the establishment of
the company for the entire local economic and social fabric, such as the demonstration by Nokia employees on July 8, which chanted:
"Relocation = death of Lannion".
On the one hand, the struggles against layoffs are often characterized by local roots, they concern an entire city, a region. Particularly
in small and medium-sized towns where "everyone goes to a demonstration", because everyone in their family and friendly circle has someone
who works in the company and sees what the closure will entail. This is why the local and departmental unions will have to play a central
role as binders in an employment pool.
Unite so as not to suffer
On the other hand, the subject of unemployment insurance will have to be put back on the table, in order to give a more global meaning to
the question of layoffs, and to show that the problem really concerns everyone. Not only to include those who have the most precarious
contracts, or no contract at all, but also to update the harmful aspects of the "flexibilisation" of the labor market. The more people who
are unemployed, and the more difficult they live with unemployment benefit, the more they will accept poor working conditions and pay. This
allows employers to maintain and increase their profits.
The crisis and the layoffs today are different from those of the 2008 crisis. If this time again we have windfall social plans or linked to
previous choices by company management (Nokia for example), a large proportion of layoffs will be real economic layoffs. And that is a game
changer. The classic slogan "prohibiting layoffs" will have little meaning when the stake is the bankruptcy of a large number of companies,
or even entire industrial sectors. The workers in every company adjust their demands to what they think they can get. And this will be all
the higher the more we are united to defend these jobs.
It should be remembered that the bosses who lay off today, risking plunging tens of thousands of people into misery, have their pockets
full, filled with the work of the employees, including during confinement. This is why the slogan of "workers'right of veto" on layoffs must
be carried out, in order to highlight that decisions must be in the hands of those who create the profit. The CGT and Solidaires are calling
for a day of strike action to defend jobs on September 17. We must build this date in companies, as close as possible to the demands of the
employees, and give it political perspectives to make it a step in the construction of a strong movement.
Adèle (UCL Pantin)
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Epidemie-de-licenciements-le-bon-vaccin-c-est-la-lutte
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Message: 4
[Photos] Huge demonstrations of support for refugees took place on Friday September 11 in Athens and Crete, led in particular by
anarcho-syndicalists. "Burning Mora is not a crime. The existence of Moria, that is the crime ". ---- Emotions run high in Greece following
the fire in the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos. It is currently the No. 1 social issue in the country. ---- The Conservative
government accuses the refugees of having started the fire themselves. The far right shoots a video in which we see a child from the camp
exclaiming " bye-bye Moria ", and uses it to imply that the refugees are happy with the tragedy in progress, and shoot in derision their
distress.
The Rocinante Anarcho-Syndicalist Initiative, the largest libertarian organization in Greece, turned the stigma around by making " Bye-bye
Moria " a slogan of solidarity. The organization asserts that one cannot know who set Moria on fire but that, in any case, one has the
right to burn Moria, Moria is such a shame.
The coronavirus, the spark that ignited the powder
Due to the policy of blocking refugees on Lesbos by the government, this camp intended for 3,000 people has, in a few months, jumped to
6,000, then to 20,000 people crammed in nightmarish conditions. The worst was reached when, following the discovery of 40 cases of Covid-19,
the Greek authorities locked the camp, voluntarily creating a giant cluster, with no escape for the refugees condemned to rapid contamination.
It was in these circumstances that the fire occurred. Now the government is talking about rebuilding Moria, with a stricter dimension of
confinement - that is to say a concentration camp, in the true sense of the term, like those where the Spanish refugees were parked. es in
France in 1939.
Friday, September 11, a demonstration of solidarity brought together 8,000 people in Athens, including 1,500 in the anarcho-syndicalist
procession. But the most impressive demonstration took place in Chania, Crete, with 6,000 demonstrators for a city of 60,000 inhabitants.
September 11, 2020 in Athens (Greece)
On the banner: "Bye-bye Moria ! Freedom of movement and installation in cities. Solidarity with refugees. Rocinante anarcho-syndicalist
initiative "
September 11, 2020 in Athens.
"Burning Moria is not a crime. The existence of Moria, that is the crime. Rocinante "
"Beyond nihilism, all of us, among the ruins, are preparing for a rebirth" (Albert Camus, L'Homme revolté ).
September 11, 2020 in Athens (Greece)
September 11, 2020 in Chania (Crete)
00:0000:00
September 11, 2020 in Chania (Crete)
6,000 people marched in solidarity with the migrants in the Moria camp, which was set on fire.
This demonstration was also an opportunity to protest against the expulsion of Rosa Negra, a self-managed social center in Chania, which
housed refugees.
The Rocinante anarcho-syndicalist Initiative calls for the closure of Moria, as well as all the camps and detention structures ; the freedom
of movement and installation of refugees in cities (and not in no man's land as it is now), papers for all, and an end to expulsions.
Guillaume Davranche (UCL Montreuil)
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Bye-bye-Moria-les-libertaires-de-Grece-avec-les-refugie-es
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Message: 5
Since August 11, 2020 a general political strike has been engaged in Belarus / Belarus. Strike committees have been elected in the largest
factories and mines in the country. Independent unions are growing, however, as official unions are deserted by workers. The UCL is part of
this united call for solidarity with the popular movement in Belarus. ---- Since August 11, 2020 a general political strike has been engaged
in Belarus / Belarus on the following demands: departure of President-dictator Lukachenko, release of all prisoners and all political
prisoners, free elections. ---- Strike committees have been elected in the largest factories and mines in the country. They seek to federate
nationally but their members are often arrested. Independent unions are growing, however, as official unions are deserted by workers.
Supported by this strike movement, the demonstrations for the departure of Lukachenko have resumed since August 11 and involve every Sunday
around a million demonstrators in this country of 10 million inhabitants, including hundreds of thousands in its capital, Minsk. Since the
start of the school year on August 31, young students and high school students are also in the street.
The social content of democratic demands is the exercise of power by the majority, and therefore, for example, the end of compulsory
fixed-term contracts and individual employment contracts in this capitalist paradise that is Belarus.
Women, from the start, have occupied a special, assertive and powerful place in this movement in all its forms.
The repression officially caused 3 deaths, and around 80 " disappeared ". 10,000 people were kidnapped by the Omon and sentenced to terms,
most often a few days in prison during which beatings, torture, rape ...
European political leaders have taken a position to call for an " end to violence " only very late in view of a situation that worries
them, because the people want to oust a president !
The sympathy of neighboring peoples is very strong, especially that of the Russian people. Putin has been supporting Lukachenko ever since
he called for help and pledged to comply with his conditions. The intervention of the state, the army and the Russian " organs " is beyond
doubt. But it is unpopular in Russia, where even official unions have to speak out against sending troops as scabs.
The open revolution in Belarus aims at real democracy ; the working class, women and youth are the spearhead ; it is inscribed both in a
long history referring to the struggles of the peoples of central and eastern Europe in the time of the USSR, and in the current wave of
political crises and insurgencies throughout the world. One cannot speak of solidarity, Europe and internationalism without speaking out in
favor of the defense, protection, active support for the Belarusian people and the Belarusian general strike.
This is why, and in particular following the positions taken by several French trade union organizations, our organizations call for:
Supporting the struggle of the people of Belarus for democratic freedoms, and the strikes of workers in this country.
To relay the information transmitted by the organizations, collectives, activists and progressive militants of Belarus, in order to make
known the situation there and to fight the repression of the Belarusian state.
In Paris, we will call for a rally in front of the Belarusian embassy in the coming days.
Signatory organizations (list to be completed):
Arguments for the social struggle (APSL)
Center for studies and initiatives of international solidarity (CEDETIM)
Social criticism
Emancipation, inter-union trend
Together ! - Democratic and Social Left (GDS)
The insurgent
New anti-capitalist party (NPA)
For a popular and social ecology (PEPS)
Feminist network " Ruptures "
Section of correctors of the General Book
Union written communication CGT Union communiste libertaire (UCL)
Union syndicale Solidarity
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Solidarite-avec-le-mouvement-populaire-democratique-et-les-greves-au-Belarus
------------------------------
Message: 6
SOLIDARITY TO THE PERSECUTED FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF ---- In January 2018, the occupation of Libertatia burns completely after an
incendiary attack by fascists. An attack that took place during the nationalist rallies of that period and with the cover of the police
forces. Immediately, the comrades of the occupation decide to proceed with the reconstruction of the building, in order to give a practical
and decisive answer to both the state and its parastatal gangs. ---- The start of work, the expression of political and material solidarity
by comrades both nationwide and internationally, the persistence and effectiveness of the Libertatia squatters, could not leave the state
mechanism indifferent. Thus, on November 8, 2019, during the reconstruction work, police forces invaded the area of occupation and carried
out 4 arrests.
Since then, the process of rebuilding the occupation has been in the focus of repression and its stated goal is to prevent it. Cops along
with the tax office of newer monuments invade the occupation in order to obstruct the works, to terrorize those involved in them and to
burden the militants financially. The result of these three invasions to date is the theft of reconstruction tools during the last two as
well as the arrests of militants, most recently those of the twelve comrades in August 2020.
The state crackdown on the occupation and the militants involved in its reconstruction is the continuation of the arson of Libertatia by a
group of fascists under the full tolerance and cover of the police forces during the nationalist rally in January 2018, at the same time are
fully part of the repression campaign that has been going on for the last year. A repressive plan that targets both the social and class
resistances that are developing from below, as well as the anarchist movement, with the squatting not having stopped at the center for a
moment. In the condition of fear and submission that the state and the bosses want to impose, the squatters as visible points of resistance
must be hit immediately, decisively and exemplary.
The comrades of Libertatia, in spite of the times, lifted the weight of the reconstruction, faced many obstacles and today they have made
significant progress in the reconstruction of the occupation. Which is a clear victory for the anarchist movement and for the world of
struggle, highlighting how much we can achieve with our weapons self-organization and solidarity. On September 17, those arrested by the
invasion in November 2019 will be in court to defend their choice to rebuild the burned building of the occupation, to prove in practice
that the world of struggle, the anarchists, the occupiers do not surrender. They fight and win.
AGAINST STATE SUPPRESSION, NOT A STEP BACK!
SOLIDARITY IN LIBERTATIA - HANDS OUT OF THE OCCUPATIONS
RALLY OF SOLIDARITY IN THE COURTS OF THESSALONIKI ON THURSDAY 17 SEPTEMBER AT 9.00
ANARCHIST POLITICAL ORGANIZATION FEDERATION OF COLLECTIVES
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Message: 7
Palestine Action ---- We've occupied the roof and entering the second day. Windows are smashed and red paint is covering the front. There
has been a media silence on our action, and we refuse to be silenced. So we're calling on everyone who supports us to send this press
release far and wide. We're still on the roof at UAV Engines, Lynn La, Lichfield, WS14 0DT ---- Press release: ---- 3 activists who locked
on to close the gates of Israeli arms company, UAV Engines were arrested yesterday while 5 protesters continue to occupy the roof into a
second day. ---- On Monday other supporters came to join the demonstration. The entire front of the factory remained covered in the red
paint symbolising the blood spilt by the use of the weapons made by Elbit Systems. Many of the windows of the factorywere smashed. Pictures
of Palestinian children killed by Israel were on display along the front of the factory along with banners reading "Elbit weapons, tested on
Palestinians". While speeches from the roof and the ground drew direct links between the weapons being built in the factory and Israel's
regular attacks against the Palestinians.
At 4pm the 3 activists who had locked on at the front gates were arrested. Police threatened to arrest the protesters on the roof but have
so far not removed the activists.
They had originally scaled the building in the early hours of Monday morning, others locked on in front of the gates. Chains were also used
to close the gates shut. They are calling for the factory and all Elbit Systems sites to be shut down in the UK, and an end to UK complicity
with Israeli apartheid.
Elbit Systems openly market their weapons as "field-tested" on Palestinian civilians in Gaza. They provide the Israeli military with over
80% of its military drone fleet, which is used to terrorise and massacre Palestinians in Gaza. These drones include the military drones
Hermes 900 and Hermes 450 which were employed extensively during the 51 day attack on Gaza in 2014, which killed over 2200 Palestinians
including 500 children. Elbit has also recently won the contract to surveill and stop migrants and refugees trying to arrive to UK shores.
UAV Engines produce the engines for Elbits drones.
Palestine Action as a grassroots network of activists dedicated to ending Israeli apartheid, occupation and colonization, has been active
for just over a month. In this month, they have held over 15 successful actions targeting the company. Palestine Action's growing popularity
has begun to be seen as a threat to both Elbit's business in the UK and Israel's apartheid regime.
At a recent meeting between Israel's Minister of Strategic Affairs Orit Farkash and the British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Minister
Farkash demanded that the British government take action against the growing BDS campaign protesting both Elbit Systems and Israel's
apartheid regime, specifically referring to the successful actions of Palestine Action.
Quote: "The UK government has been complicit in the colonisation of Palestine for over 100 years. Now they continue to profit from, sustain
and facilitate Israel's apartheid regime. While our government continues to turn a blind eye to Elbit Systems continuing to arm Israel's war
crimes against the Palestinian people, we too will continue to disrupt and take direct action for the sake of human rights, justice and
freedom. We call on all those who stand against racism and for humanity to take action, join us and shut Elbit down for good."
Contact number: 07514668600
facebook.com/Anarchistfederation/posts/4996225950402783
------------------------------
Message: 8
For us, anarchists, the government, the Parliament, whatever its form in a given historical context, always remains the expression of the
dominance of a privileged caste over the vast majority of the population. ---- On September 20 and 21, the referendum will be held to
confirm or reject the decision taken almost unanimously by the current Parliament to reduce the number of parliamentarians: 230 members of
parliament and 115 senators. This operation will save each Italian about 1 euro per year. If the goal is to save money, cutting military
spending, which costs 70 million euros a day, would have had a much greater impact and the economy could have been used to improve health,
education, transport and the environment.
The Right, the 5 Star Movement and the so-called Left have in fact established a project for the demolition of bourgeois democracy and the
centralization of decision-making power in a few hands, the same as that of Licio Gelli and P2 with the "Plan for Democratic Rebirth ".
After the 345 cut, why don't we cut all parliamentarians? And then why not consider a single man in charge, with full powers? What better
cost savings than politics!
These parties, with their demagogy, are increasingly poisoning a population that has been affected by racist delusions and has also been
affected in recent months by the pandemic shock. Changing some of the rules of bourgeois democracy itself and its electoral practice, which
is based on the representation of popular sovereignty through the exercise of voting as a presumed form of participation and legitimacy of
state power, is a sign of a continuous authoritarian drift that is beginning to take shape in the reduction of the relationship between
"representatives of the people" and the number of inhabitants, in the dismantling of entire electoral colleges, penalizing the less populous
colleges and regions, exterminating linguistic minorities and Italians much courted abroad, in the concentration of power in the main parties ,
The phase that we are going through, with all the totalitarian and repressive unknowns that the so-called fight against Covid-19 has already
highlighted, is extremely dangerous and leads to a liberalist dictatorship that has as its premise the whip for the people, the prison for
the opposition, the religious and fanatical cult for a new figure of the Chief.
It is not a vote that will change our destiny, especially in the next referendum. Parliamentarism is the other side of dictatorship and
totalitarianism, a form of corrupt and subjugated participation in the domain of caste and capital lobbies, which have in their hands the
levers of power and the tools for mass control. Capital is neither democratic nor undemocratic, but it evaluates and promotes what best
satisfies your desire for profit, always ready to change the method of government if it considers it necessary to preserve power and privilege.
To combat the current liberal and totalitarian tendency, we do not need referendums or elections, but direct democracy, self-government,
self-management, re-appropriation of politics from below, in communities, in territories, to radically change society and be able to achieve
concrete improvements. and lasting in our lives.
We fight for a society without government and without parliaments, where decisions are made by assemblies of free and thinking women and
men, linked in a horizontal network of federations involving the largest number of citizens, with the utmost respect for all opinions and
all differences. We are in favor of a stateless society.
Sicilian Anarchist Federation
fas.corrispondenza@inventati.org - 2-9-2020
Source: https://www.umanitanova.org/?p=12718
Translation> Liberto
anarchist news agency-ana
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