We can do anything with cutting-edge technology except sit on it. The
usurpation that governs in the name of progress must constantly producenew proof of it (EDN No. 14, 1989). ---- We can do anything with
bayonets, except sit on them (Talleyrand to Bonaparte) ---- The world is
shrinking, bristling, and becoming nuclear ---- The countless massacres
and ongoing conflicts (Sudan, DRC, Ukraine, Palestine, Burma, etc.) obey
the logic of plundering territories and resources by states or
military-capitalist entities that know only the iron law: resources =
profits = power.
We see the USA "negotiating" Ukraine's mines or power plants; Rwanda
bloodying Kivu for its coltan, and the Africa Corps (formerly the Wagner
Group) plundering and refining gold in Mali and the Central African
Republic. These thefts are based on the will to power of increasingly
militarized states, violent against peoples and countries that must be
subjugated or destroyed because they are "enemies."
This globalized murderous logic is once again becoming palpable. In the
media, we normally talk about wars and massacres somewhere between a
garbage collectors' strike and football. Leaders use a vocabulary
designed to paralyze us: "war economy," "rearmament" (demographic,
moral, national); "enemies," "national defense," "necessary efforts,"
"sacrifices," "resilience." This prose shows that war is normal, peace
is the exception. The atomic weapon is making a comeback, as the
ultimate protection: the major powers are reviving their nuclear
arsenals, Russia and the USA are withdrawing from the Medium-Range
Missile Treaty; international tensions are pushing countries to acquire
the bomb (South Korea, Japan, Iran, etc.). However, contrary to popular
belief, "the more a state increases its military power to guarantee its
security, the more its security diminishes, because increasing its power
encourages its adversaries to increase theirs." (Nuclear Weapons
2025-Elucid).
In France, more than 30,000 people work for the atomic bomb
(ArianeGroup, Safran, Thales, CEA, etc.). And the $54 billion earmarked
for its modernization will benefit manufacturers of radiation-resistant
chips (Soitec, NanoXplore, Teledyne, etc.) and the CEA in Grenoble. 2025
is the 80th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki:
120,000 instant deaths and hundreds of thousands of wounded. It will
also be the year when the race for mutually assured destruction (MAD)
will once again become visible!
France in the morbid game of war and technology
All wars are a godsend for France, the world's second-largest arms
exporter in 2024. Its salesman, Macron, doesn't hesitate for a second to
finance the recovery through death:
Strategic sectors: gunpowder, sovereign crystals, chips, sensors,
cannons, shells, armored vehicles, aircraft... Not to mention the Holy
Alliance of elected officials to save Vencorex, in the name of its
"strategic" role for French nuclear missiles.
Scientific mobilization through "defense innovation": INRIA-NavalGroup
partnerships (submarines in Grenoble!); Grenoble military startups
(Qobly, DiamFab); criminal business at the Lyon Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (EDEN Cluster and Security Hub).
Arms sales to our trusted customers, sometimes enemies of each other:
Serbia (Rafale); Israel (chips, Thales transponders, etc.); the United
Arab Emirates and India (everything); Greece (corvettes); and to Turkey,
its sworn enemy, Meteor missiles. Not to mention violations by Thales,
Safran, Michelin, and Lyon SMEs (Elistair, Nicomatic) of the military
embargo against Russia.
Obligation for the arms industry to create stockpiles of missiles,
shells, and spare parts; Law on the requisition of civilian production
lines for the military in the event of war,
Increase in the military budget: Planned increase from 60 billion to 100
billion to achieve "healthy weight" thanks to our sacrifices...
Stock market boom for arms companies: Rheinmetall, Thales, etc., while
the crisis worsens. The 800 billion "Rearm Europe" offers "great growth
potential for European defense companies." (Ursula).
Shameless and deceptive advertising campaigns: recruitment of young
people to reach the minimum of 300,000 soldiers by 2030 (including
reservists), revival of the UN; militaristic brainwashing ("nation
sacrifices, responsibility") to accustom us to the wars of the future.
Technological warfare against the living, here and elsewhere
These choices to revive the military-industrial complex and fierce
international competition must "pull up" all industrial sectors through:
The revival of mining. The illusory sovereignty over strategic minerals
is giving rise to projects: tungsten in Salau, quartz in Lempzours,
lithium in Échassieres... This latest project of "major national
interest" (1 billion, or 1,666 years of RSA) will further destroy a
region already seriously polluted by past mines.
The frantic development of chips. They are the raw material for all
electronic gadgets and for military Mordor, with the European target of
20% of global production. In Grenoble, despite layoff plans (STM,
Soitec) linked to market cycles, the resilient Grenoble laboratory
continues to absorb capital and brainpower, for ever more startups,
research institutes, and deadly production.
The chemistry/electronics alliance. Expansion projects at Arkema (near
Lyon), a perennial polluter due to its PFAS, are continuing. Among
these, PVDF, a vital insulator for the electronics industry, has not
been banned by the recent law against PFAS. Surprising, isn't it?
All-electric. Arkema will produce lithium salts for batteries in the
pseudo-energy transition. In Grenoble, Verkor plans to build the largest
battery "GigaFab" in France (Nord). And, as the transition requires, the
monstrous pollution and fires caused by lithium batteries will remain
hidden.
A forced revival of so-called "civil" nuclear power. To fuel all of the
above, six new EPR2s are needed, including two in Bugey, Ain. This is in
a region where the flow of the Rhône is expected to decrease by 40% due
to climate change. And the nuclear cycle is complete with the
EDF/CEA-DAM agreement to irradiate lithium (Civaux power plant) to
produce the tritium needed for hydrogen bombs.
In all these situations, in cities and countryside alike, locals are
asked to keep quiet and enthusiastically accept the monopolization of
water resources, the multiple sources of pollution, and the siphoning
off of public funds, all in the name of the proliferation of connected
objects, electric cars, "smart" cities, and weaponry. As everyone knows,
progress and happiness would be achieved in a machine-like society where
permanent connectivity barely masks the techno-police surveillance, the
violence of power (A69, Kanaky, Mayotte, etc.), and the capitalist and
military violence that destroys everything: lives, nature, the planet.
Feeding the AI ogre? The combination of all-electric and all-digital
requires infrastructure that consumes a lot of water and electricity
(10% of consumption in France according to Reporterre). Projects to
build 35 data centers for AI are the epitome of this. Of the four
planned in the region, two are here: Villefontaine and Eybens. This one
will be monstrous: an investment of 800 million (for 20 jobs created, or
40 million per job!); a power output of 1 GW (the output of a nuclear
reactor!); not to mention an already fabulous water consumption to begin
with (12,000 m3 / year, or three Olympic swimming pools), discharged at
65°C. A final treat for investors: "... data center projects" are
excluded from the scope of the National Commission for Public Debate (Le
Postillon 76). Faced with this new digital pollution, there's radio
silence from left-wing elected officials, unions (we're already used to
this with STM), and radical groups for whom the important thing is, it
seems, to leave X for Bluesky. Yet, an AI query consumes 20 to 30 times
more energy and water than a traditional server or application. And this
in a region where chip and chemical factories are already endangering
the drinking water supply.
Our anti-militarism is anti-authoritarian
"What we need is a military organization of agents" (Lenin 1902)
The crushing industrial monster and crisis situations (ecological,
health, social, or military) often provoke identity-based and
authoritarian withdrawals in societies, accompanied by calls for real
leaders in the name of urgency, efficiency, and survival. This has
become the daily mode of intervention of politicians and states. But the
confusion of identity, authority, and effectiveness also wreaks havoc in
the social movement.
This is the case for certain groups like the Earth Uprisings (SdlT).
With them, the old practices of Leninist groups return in new guise:
"invisible" but very heavy-handed leadership, entryism, the creation of
branches (War on War, for example), segmentation, hierarchization, the
selection of "winnable" struggles, and the use of rank-and-file
activists as infantry to boost numbers.
All means are fair game in the name of urgency or effectiveness: playing
on anxiety, fear, dangling a supposed "power" or "strength"; creating
"dams" to never discuss; combining military vocabulary (creating fronts,
disarming) with that of marketing and political communication (product,
restructuring, spokesperson, etc.). promising action with shocking
"teasers" while creating opportunistic alliances with politicians...
In the same way, selective outrage and clever calculations based on
fictitious camps lead to dead ends, because the worst enemies of the day
are always capable of forming alliances on the backs of peoples and
countries to colonize, recolonize, and oppress them. The alliance
between the USA and Russia on the back of Ukraine, the hypocrisy of the
Turkish state, which in 2023/2024 condemns Israel while massively
exporting fuel, machinery, and munitions to it, are recent examples.
If we want to put an end to the militarism, authority, and capitalism
that are corrupting societies and destroying the planet, we must firmly
adhere to a few simple principles of fieldwork, horizontality,
sincerity, openness, rejection of authoritarianism, resistance to
propaganda and manipulation, and a minimum of critical thinking. War is
brewing near us; let's refuse to be complicit.
Mines, AI, chips, connected living, and techno-solutionism: neither here
nor there.
Neither cannon fodder, nor fodder for bosses, nor fodder for leaders!
International anti-militarist solidarity!
Regional Coordination Against Arms and Militarism - March 2025
Who are we?
In a context where international tensions and the repression of social
movements around the world are on the rise, where-as a direct
consequence-the arms industry is booming, and where militaristic and
security-oriented public policies abound-budget increases, Universal
National Service, etc.-we believe it is urgent to develop a large-scale
anti-militarist movement. The Regional Coordination Against Arms and
Militarism aims to connect the various anti-militarist initiatives in
the AuRA region. Three groups exist in Lyon, Grenoble, and Saint-Étienne.
All energies are welcome; don't hesitate to contact us! craam at riseup.net
Reminder: this paper leaflet will always consume less water and energy
than a post, a video of a radical action on social networks, or the
STMicro chip in a Google phone. And, it can be read without the need for
a lithium battery powered by nuclear electricity."
https://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4444
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
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