Welcome to 17th issue of Barricade Bulletin. Apologies for the slight delay with
this issue as we have been flat out locally in a number of important projectswhich has meant a setback in the regular production of Barricade Bulletin. Due tothis Barricade Bulletin content and size has been reduced in order to bring itout monthly. ---- The Derry Anarchist Collective is active in many differentprojects from organising within our unions to prisoner support and othercommunity activity. Some of our activity is listed within these pages and on oursocial media. ---- Barricade Bulletin is printed and produced voluntarily by theDerry Anarchist Collective to bring you info from anarchists in Derry. ----Barricade Bulletin takes its name from the radical community news sheet printedand distributed during the period of Free Derry.Strike NewsSolidarity With Council Workers Industrial Workers of the World has extended itssolidarity with Council and Education workers taking industrial action over thelast few weeks workers along with members of the Education Authority and theDerry City & Strabane District Council.The strike action was inevitable as workers throughout the Public Sector arefighting to survive. The demand for better pay was rejected by workers earlierlast month with pay offers for both quarters was labled as nothing short of"derisory".A spokesperson for the IWW in Derry said that "The fact that workers have takenthe decision to get back on the streets has to be welcomed. Workers have watchedhow recent price rises has impacted upon their lives directly and it will notchange unless we fight for it ourselves."Recent pay offers muted have been right rejected by workers on the ground whichhas led to todays unfolding industrial action. We extend our support to workerswho have taken the strength in recent victories and decided upon strike action."We fully support workers taking strike action and you can see by the reaction onthe picket lines, and in talking to other workers that there is widespreadsupport for them on the ground."Unions representing both Council and Education Workers have noted that industrialaction to continue until Sunday, May 1 and will resume between Tuesday, May 3 toSunday, May 8.IWW Global May Day 2022Members of the Industrial Workers of the World gathered in Belfast to take partin this year's annual May Day March and Rally, the first in the city since Covidrestrictions. IWW spokesperson said that "This year's event coincides with GlobalMay Day which the IWW has play a part in organising with other revolutionaryunions such as the FOB in Brazil, FAU in Germany, SAC Sweden, GWTUC in Bangladeshas well as Earth Strike."It is vital that we raise awareness and make the connection between climatejustice and class struggle. As part of a week of events Global May Day hasorganised a series of online events such as film screenings. Through this we arehighlighting the many different worker led struggles from farms workers tocommunity resistance to toxic gold mining in the Sperrins.SAC Sweden, GWTUC in Bangladesh as well as Earth Strike."It is vital that we raise awareness and make the connection between climatejustice and class struggle. As part of a week of events Global May Day hasorganised a series of online events such as film screenings. "Through this we arehighlighting the many different worker led struggles from farms workers tocommunity resistance to toxic gold mining in the Sperrins." www.globalmayday.net/Transport Workers StrikeThe entire transport system across the North is set to grind to a halt on May17th as Translink members rejected a revised pay offer of 3% as they have beendemanding a 6% pay rise for bus workers across the region to cope with the riseof inflation. The strike action is set to include Translink drivers, cleaners andshunters with a seven-day walkout.A spokesperson for the Industrial Workers of the World said that "Over the nextfew weeks as more picket lines grow, support and solidarity from other workersand communities will be important on the picket lines."Workers are taking part in industrial action is extremely important for all ofus, for all our class and even more so at this time as we prepare to take on thebosses against the squeeze on pay and our living standards generally."Don't Vote - Organise!" Question, How many voters does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None, becausevoting doesn't change anything." **Joke by David Graeber in Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology.As a quick introduction, I would like to say that Anarchists vote all the time,it is a useful way of making progress at committee or cooperative meetings. It isa way of gaining a consensus and of eliminating non feasible actions.But anarchists are aware of the tyranny of the majority and work to put checksand balances in to make it difficult for this tyranny to develop.The following piece is about some of my thoughts and perceptions as we move intoa local election period.As I have been making my way around Derry over the past month or so I have beenmet by the earnest and serious facing looking down on me from every lamppost inthe town, and they really do look down on us. These faces are telling me to votefor them either 1,2 or 3 due to the PR system we have in the north of Ireland. Ihave also received junk mail, a huge waste of paper and printing resourcesthrough my letterbox, highlighting just what candidate x will do for me. Some ofthese are even addressed to me personally, so someone is spending money andmaking money on selling my personal information.My introduction to Anarchist thought came from a repulsion of "˜mainstreampolitics'. I could not figure out why people continue to vote for people andparties that actually have little to no interest of the citizenry of theirconstituency. I also wondered how represented I truly am.I may have voted for a candidate or party that did not get enough votes toachieve a seat. Which is usual, coming from the left in the 21st century. Who'slooking out for me and my views? Or I may have voted and that candidate gotelected, woo hoo!!But then there was no further consultation and no mechanism for immediate recall.This is dangerous, as in this gap, the lobbyists and money grabbers then get theear of the elected politician. Of course the trick is hiding from the public thatall "˜successful political parties' want to maintain the status quo. They are notinterested in the fundamental change that is required in order to improve thelives of all of us.Politics in the north of Ireland has always been tribal, but now in the 3rddecade of the 21st century all "˜mainstream politics in tribal. As Mark Fisheralludes to in one of his K-Punk articles election night is just like watching asports team get a result. When the results are in the game is over and all of usplebs can go back to our lives of exploitation and toil, while the ruling classgain more power and wealth.So should an Anarchist be interested in electoral politics? There is always theargument that it is put forward in reducing harm. Maybe, somehow, the right partyor candidate may be elected and make real change. Or maybe the process of changewill happen through incremental reform.As compelling as these arguments can sound, logic dictates that centuries ofrepresentative democracy should have yielded results by now. Instead we are nowliving in the most unequal society that has existed since feudalism. Vulnerablepeople are continuing to be ignored, while workers are making decisions aboutheating their home or eating. All the while fat cats are getting fatter.What about the big issues? How do we deal with climate disaster, poverty andconflict? In some ways the above reasoning applies. There have been decades ofvoting, all over the world and for different parties, and yet we still are facingexistential crisis as a species.Another argument is that if you don't vote you don't get to complain. Thisimplies that voting somehow gives you more rights than non-voters in yourdiscontent. Of course, this is nonsense. Voting is a mechanism in legitimizingthe status quo. The message is fuelled by the ruling class and their allies andsponsors in the media and corporations, who would love it if society got it's sayevery 4 or five years and then shut up, sat down and consumed beyond their needs.So maybe we don't vote, the perfect solution. But not voting is only powerful ifyou continue to find ways to subvert capitalism and the state. Not voting is anegation of representative democracy, but only if it is backed up by communityand workplace organizing, mutual aid and working with others to prefigure thesociety that we want. At times when we are bombarded with sleazy promises andcheesy grins, it is important for us to reach out to our comrades and causes andcontinue to build the world we want to see.POCMcGuffin Honoured 20 Years On In DerryOn 28th April, in Derry we marked the 20th anniversary of the death of formercivil rights activist and local anarchist John McGuffin.Local activists in the city marked the occasion of the 20th anniversary of hisdeath by creating a mural at Free Derry wall in the Bogside with the anarchistslogan, NO GODS, NO MASTERS complete with the red and black colours.A spokesperson for the Derry Anarchist Collective siad on the day: "Today weremember John and the contributions he has made throughout his years as aactivist and writer for social justice and change."As news filtered out of John's death, a few days short of what would have beenhis 60th birthday, his comrade and nephew Paddy McGuffin wrote: "However, in thetradition of Bakunin and Malatesta he was a born anarchist who rejected hisupbringing and a possible career in academia in favour of becoming a revolutionary."Perhaps the defining moment in a long and chequered career as an Internationalrevolutionary was his internment in August 1971. He became the first protestantto be detained under the act while a founding member of the People's Democracyand lecturer at Belfast Tech. It was the six weeks he spent in Crumlin Road thatmade him, and many others, set aside their pacifist beliefs and becomefully-fledged members of the Republican movement. McGuffin was to write two bookson the subject after his release: Internment and the Guineapigs. The latter waspublished by Penguin and sold 20,000 copies in its first week before beingbanned. He was to make friendships with his fellow internees that would last alifetime. chequered career as an International revolutionary was his internmentin August 1971. He became the first protestant to be detained under the act whilea founding member of the People's Democracy and lecturer at Belfast Tech."It was the six weeks he spent in Crumlin Road that made him, and many others,set aside their pacifist beliefs and become fully-fledged members of theRepublican movement."McGuffin was to write two books on the subject after his release: Internment andthe Guineapigs. The latter was published by Penguin and sold 20,000 copies in itsfirst week before being banned. He was to make friendships with his fellowinternees that would last a lifetime."Anarchist Black Cross NewsSolidarity with Anarchist Prisoner Toby ShoneToby Shone was arrested under Operation Adream to hunt for the administrators ofthe anarchist website 325.nostate.net under Terrorism legislation in England.Toby was found Not Guilty of funding terrorism, possessing information useful toterrorists, membership of the FAI, or of carrying out several direct actions, butwas instead sentenced for possession of LSD, DMT, psilocybin, MDMA and Cannabis,which was seized from a raid on a collective living space. He is also currentlyfighting as Serious Crime Prevention Order which police have applied against him.You can write a letter of solidarity, a post card etc to: Toby Shone, A7645EP,Parc Prison, Heol Hopcyn John, Coity, Bridgend, CF35 6AP.Solidarity with Anarchists in BelarusOn April 22, the verdict was pronounced in the so-called "Pramen case".Aliaksandr Bialou, Jauhen Rubashka, Artsiom Salavei were sentenced to 5 years inprison, another Artsiom Salavei "" to 4.5 years. The trial itself was held behindclosed doors.Aliaksandr and Jauhen were arrested on July 29, 2021 and charged withparticipating in the 2020 protests. Two activists named Artsiom Salavei(namesakes) were detained a week later. During the investigation, the anarchistmedia collective Pramen were recognized as an "˜extremist formation'.By 2020-2021, all defendants had already been detained for various protests andjailed for short periods.Source: abc-belarus.orgDerry ABC: https://abcireland.wordpress.com/WHO WE AREWe are a class struggle anarchist collective, organised by and for working classpeople. As anarchists we are opposed to all states and institutions, and allattitudes and ideologies that stand in the way of equality and the right of allpeople everywhere to control their own lives and environment. The working classhas no country.The class struggle is world wide and recognises no artificial boundaries. TheArmies and Police of all states do not exist to protect the workers of thosestates, they exist only as the repressive arm of the ruling class.Our AimOur aim is to abolish world wide, the state system, governments, capitalism andthe wage slavery in all its forms and replace them with a free classless societybased on self-managed communities and industries where production is for need notprofit. In order to bring about an anarchist society the working class must takeover the means of production and distribution, along with the day-to-day runningof our communities.What We BelieveAs anarchists we believe that the only way for the working class to achieve thisis by independent organisation in the workplace and the community. In federationwith others in the same industry and locality, independent of and opposed to allpolitical parties and trade union bureaucracies. Industrial and communityfederations must be controlled by the working class themselves and must uniterather than divide the working class.Dividing the working class by skin colour, religion, sex, nationality, sexualpreference etc. is one of the main ways that the ruling class keeps us fightingamongst ourselves instead of against them. In creating a free society we mustcombat and destroy these divisions which the ruling class fosters within theworking class.Get Involve_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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