Australia, Melbourne, Anarchist Affinity - A quick guide to staying safe and being effective: all out against ' Reclaim Australia'!

(en) Australia, Melbourne, Anarchist Affinity - A quick guide
to staying safe and being effective: all out against 'Reclaim
Australia'!

If you're going out against Reclaim Australia tomorrow, it's totally legitimate to feel a 
bit anxious or worried about what the day might have in store. We hope that this quick 
primer will provide you with a few tips and resources about how to be keep one another 
safe, how to be effective and (hopefully) have a bit of fun running the racists out of 
town. ---- Get organised: ---- If you're not already involved in organising against 
Reclaim Australia, there's still time. Search for the counter rally page in your city, 
read up about what's going on and consider making contact with the organisers to answer 
any questions you might have. ---- Talk to your friends, your family and anyone else about 
what you want to do, and get them to come along with you. The more of us there is, the 
easier & more fun this is all going to be.

Have a plan:

1. Check out the transport options, figure out with your friends how you're gonna get 
there on the day and then stick to that plan. Getting out of bed on time really matters 
tomorrow! Also sort out how you are going to get home in advance, and have a back up plan 
in case of changing circumstances.

2. Know where you're going & what the protest area looks like. Look at a map & try to 
memorise the layout of the streets around it. Figure out how you will move between 
transport & the rally area.

3. Dress appropriately for the conditions in your city. Whatever the weather, hats and 
sunglasses are going to be useful if you're standing outside all day & they can also help 
protect your identity (if that's something you are concerned about). It's also a good idea 
to stash a change of top in your back pack, in case you want to change it up on your way home

4. Bring water, snacks, sunscreen, umbrella/raincoat, a bit of cash, photo ID and any 
medications you require (in their original packaging)

Get informed:

There's plenty of really useful stuff on the internet about preparing for an action like 
this. At the very least, it would be worth checking out Fitzroy Legal Service's Activists 
Rights Handbook for basic stuff about your legal rights when on a political demonstration 
or action.

We also think this guide from South London Antifascists is useful, although not all the 
points they raise are relevant to activists in Australia.

Also important to have a look at is the Melbourne Street Medic Collective's website. They 
have an extensive list of resources available covering many different aspects of political 
action including preparation, staying safe & self care.

Safety & strength in numbers:

This is pretty common sense really but it is worth repeating.

Any time you got out on an action, no matter what sort, we reckon it's worth buddying up. 
This will not only help you communicate, co-ordinate and get things done on the day, but 
it will keep you all safe.

Pick a buddy, stick with them, and co-ordinate amongst a broader group of people so 
everyone can check in & be accounted for.

Whatever dangers do exist when dealing with the far-right can be effectively minimised on 
the day provided we stick together & look out for one another.

If you don't have a buddy or a group of contacts to coordinate with, then ensure you to 
get to the event before the scheduled start time, stick with the crowd & try to make some 
friends.

Remember that solidarity is contagious. If you are feeling nervous, chances are someone 
else is too. Speak up, reach out & support one another.

A few points about Nazis:

Given that every nationalist, white-supremacist & neo-Nazi organisation in the country 
(including the Australia First Party, the Australian Defence League, Nationalist 
Republican Guard & former Australian Protection Party Nick Folkes' vanity project the 
'Party For Freedom') is being encouraged to attend the Reclaim Australia rallies, consider 
the following points.

1. It is important to consider the potential threat posed by hardcore nationalists without 
overstating it. Though they claim to be the "master race", and love to act real tough, 
they're rather less impressive in person. Some are individually dangerous but it's easy to 
avoid this danger with a few simple precautions.

2. Different towns in Australia have different levels of far-right activity, so it really 
depends where you are as to what flavour of racist bonehead you might be dealing with. 
Some general rules still apply though: if you're walking down the street and a gang of 
boofy blokes wearing flag-capes comes towards you, consider walking somewhere else.

3. Current fuhrer of the Australia First Party (formerly the Australian Nazi Party) "Dr" 
Jim Saleam has issued a series of dictats to his swastika-licking mates about how they 
ought to behave themselves on the day. They're encouraging people to leave the nazi getup 
& sieg-heiling at home, wrap themselves in the Aussie flag (presumably to cover up any 
fascist tattoos) & spread the word about good ole Adolf in a gentle, less threatening way. 
Basically, they're going to try to be on their best behaviour.

4. Fascists on di attack? We will film them back! Though self-appointed leader of Reclaim 
Australia Shermon "shit on a mosque" Burgess is trying to play down his connections to 
racists, fascists and boneheads around 'Straya, we are well aware of the company he keeps. 
Unfortunately, this information doesn't seem to matter much to his followers, but it is 
still important to identify the nazis on the day, both to keep people safety, but also to 
try & make Reclaim organisers sod the nazis off (like they promised to).

5. The most important thing you can do to stay safe is to look out for one another & stick 
together. There is no more important time to do this than when the rally breaks up & 
everyone goes home. Fascists are bullies, but they're also cowards & some may hang around 
in the city to look to pick a fight. We can protect ourselves from this threat by making 
sure we move in a group (to the station etc), with purpose & with a clear idea of where 
we're going. Know the location, know the exit routes & stick to your plan.

Be careful around the police:

It doesn't matter what you actually think about the police, love em or hate em, you will 
definitely have to deal with them on the day. The Activists Rights Handbook is a much more 
rigorous & comprehensive guide for dealing with the law than we have room for here, but 
here are a few tips:

1. Don't talk to them unless you are detained or arrested. You don't have to speak to the 
cops, and no matter how nice they are, the reason they speak to you is to gain information 
that they may attempt to use against you or someone else. Better to be safe and say 
nothing at all.

2. Elect a police liaison to negotiate on your group's behalf. Instead of allowing the 
cops to decide who they want to put pressure on, choose a confident person whose job it is 
to communicate with the plod if/when it is necessary.

3. Don't waste your time trying to reason with them about why nazis shouldn't get to 
parade around in public. They either don't care, or it's their job to not care. An 
organisation as corrupt and institutionally racist as the police force cannot be used as a 
tool to confront racism.

4. Use your common sense & don't do anything silly. By all means defend yourself & your 
friends if attacked, but don't initiate anything with the boneheads, no matter what they 
say or do. Collective action is what makes antifascism effective, not individual bravado.

Have fun:

For the most part, the kind of muppets who will drag themselves along to a rally about the 
"evils of Islam" on a bloody public holiday are pitiful, pathetic and ridiculous. Make 
good use of that fact.

It's likely that most of their attendees are so attached to their silly conspiracy 
theories that they are well beyond rational debate. But they are not beyond ridicule.

Blast them with music, sing them songs, chant them down. Dance your ass off to anti-racist 
tunes, explain to passers by why they're plonkers, bring along a vuvuzela.. whatever!

The most effective forms of resistance involve everyone participating how they're best 
able, so bring your skills, creativity and your friends and let's make a go of it!

Stand together, stay safe, no pasaran.

Bonus!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIPD8qHhtVU

Anarchist Affinity are an anarchist communist group organising in Melbourne, Australia

(en) Australia, Melbourne, The Anvil #4/1 - THE NEED FOR A RANK AND FILE MOVEMENT*

The Campaign for a General Strike to Stop Tony Abbott is developing, but needs to go a lot 
further and a lot faster. Each day that goes by without an organised working class 
response is a day that Liberals harm working class people and democratic rights in 
Australia further, a day to destroy the environment, torture refugees, wage imperialist 
war in West Asia, stoke reactionary social forces and stack public offices with Right wing 
zealots. To wait till the next election is to concede Tony Abbott the right to commit any 
crimes, no matter how appalling. ---- The Senate Won't Save Us ---- Firstly, many of the 
atrocious measures contained in last May's Budget were waved through because they were 
part of the appropriation bills which give the government authority to spend public money. 
This is how cuts to school and hospital funding for the States, cuts to higher education 
and many program cuts have gone ahead uncontested.

Secondly, relying on the Senate allows the Government to wangle deals with Right wing 
independents and minor parties if they have to ? neither Labor nor the Greens can be 
trusted to oppose government attacks consistently. The Government got the abolition of the 
mining tax and its anti-refugee legislation through, so placing faith in the Senate is a 
recipe for disappointment.

The Labor Party Won't Save Us

The ALP, whatever its previous philosophy, is now a thoroughly neo-liberal party. Many 
members continue to fight the good fight inside it, but decades of rule changes have 
ensured that the leadership always wins. Labor's differences with the Liberals are 
marginal and, left to their own devices, when in power they would implement most of the 
attacks they now profess to oppose. We have seen it already under Hawke, Keating, Rudd 
and Gillard. Now the ALP serves Big Business even more slavishly. Anybody who thinks Bill 
Shorten would chart a substantially different course from Abbott, let alone reverse his 
attacks on workers, has rocks in their head.

The Union Officials Won't Save Us

Virtually the entire union bureaucracy is loyal to the Labor Party (most of the exceptions 
having thrown in their lot with the Greens ? good luck with that!). The limit of their 
ambitions is a return to a Labor government, with the more photogenic of their number 
landing plum parliamentary seats for themselves.

The officials will not challenge the neo-liberal consensus unless their own positions are 
threatened ? and not necessarily even then. They quake in fear before the State apparatus 
and have no faith in their rank and file members. They cannot even defend the 
institutions over which they preside, let alone mobilise a movement that can stop broader 
government attacks on the working class.

We Have to Save Ourselves

Only by organising a movement at the base of our unions can we fight back. We have to 
mobilise a rank and file groundswell in favour of a general strike to stop all of Tony 
Abbott's attacks. Once the movement is strong enough, we must be prepared to act 
independently of the union officials. When we create facts on the ground, the officials 
will be forced to either lead the struggle against Abbott or be bypassed.

Take Back Our Unions, Take Back Our World

The organised rank and file necessary to build the general strike against the Abbott 
Government is also necessary to fight subsequent attacks on the working class by 
Australian capitalists. The union bureaucracy must be shattered and those genuine 
elements within it must dissolve into the rank and file movement. By its nature, 
capitalism continually attacks workers and siphons off ever more wealth and power to those 
already rich and powerful. To end the attacks for good, our rank and file movement must 
link up with similar movements overseas and rise up in worldwide revolution against 
capitalism.

To contact the Campaign for a General Strike to Stop Tony Abbott, look for that name on 
Facebook, or E-mail: generalstriketostopabbott@gmail.com.

From 'The Anvil' newsletter of Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG), issue 4/1, 
Feb. 2015.

*You can download the current and back issues of The Anvil here 
http://melbacg.wordpress.com/the-anvil

Related Link: http://melbacg.wordpress.com


* From 'The Anvil' newsletter of Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG), issue 4/1, 
Feb. 2015.

http://www.anarkismo.net/article/27850

(en) Australia, Melbourne, The Anvil #4/1 - Strike to stop aboriginal deaths in custody*

The movement against Aboriginal deaths in custody is growing. It is growing because the 
deaths just keep happening, and that?s criminal. We're not just talking about deaths from 
natural causes. Many of these deaths are far from natural. ---- Racism, Impunity and 
Genocide ---- We're talking about: ---- (a) Eddie Murray. The coppers said he ?committed 
suicide? in 1981 by hanging himself ? when he was so drunk he couldn't even stand 
properly. ---- (b) T.J. Hickey. In 2004, he was on his push-bike and chased by a cop car 
when he impaled himself on a fence. The coppers turned away a police rescue van. TJ died 
in hospital that night. ---- (c) Mulrunji Doomadgee. Also in 2004, Mulrinji was killed by 
a copper who ?accidentally? fell on him in a Palm Island watch house and cleaved his liver 
in two. ---- (d) Mr Ward. He was cooked alive in the back of a prison van in 2008, while 
being transported across the West Australian desert in a heat wave.

(e) Ms Dhu. She died in police custody last year, with serious and unexplained injuries 
after twice being denied admission to hospital.

And these cases are only the tip of the iceberg. There's pattern here and the pattern is 
racism, the pattern is police impunity and the pattern is genocide. No copper and no 
police officer in Australia has ever been convicted for causing the death of an indigenous 
person in custody. The 1987-91 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody 
investigated 99 deaths and concluded that not one was due to police violence.

How Can Deaths in Custody End?

The movement against deaths in custody is growing, but so far it is nowhere near strong 
enough. Australia's original sin, the Aboriginal Genocide and the theft of Aboriginal 
land, means that anti-Aboriginal racism is an integral part of the Australian State. Even 
if an enlightened reforming government were elected, Aboriginal people would still be 
arrested in numbers vastly disproportional to the non-Aboriginal population and Aborigines 
would still die unnatural deaths in custody. The problem is too deep-rooted for mere 
parliamentary change to be effective.

Aboriginal deaths in custody will only stop when the capitalist class as a whole, 
regardless of the governing party, becomes serious about stopping them. And that will only 
happen if the working class as a whole mobilises to demand that the deaths cease. The 
clearest and most emphatic way for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal workers to mobilise 
is through strike action.

A 24-hour protest strike on the day of the funeral (or other appropriate date) by all 
workers in that State, or possibly across Australia, called with the agreement of the 
victim's family, would speak to the bosses in the only language they understand. If we cut 
off the flow of profits whenever an Aboriginal person died an unnatural death in custody, 
the capitalists would soon get the message and find some way to pull their thugs into 
line. They'd be falling over themselves to implement the recommendations of the Royal 
Commission. Those recommendations were part of a deal which denied justice for past 
deaths, in return for hope that future ones might be avoided.

Why Would Workers Strike for Aboriginal Rights?

An injury to one is an injury to all. It might not be easy to get workers in Australia to 
strike against deaths in custody, but it would be in their interests. The working class 
can only defend itself by defending the interests of each and every worker. Any oppression 
hurts the working class by sowing divisions which bind some part of the working class to 
their exploiters through illusions or reactionary ideology. Divisions hurt workers' 
ability to fight back as a united force.

By campaigning throughout the working class, we can raise awareness of Aboriginal deaths 
in custody and show why workers must stop them. And when we campaign for workers to answer 
each unnatural death in custody with a protest strike, workers will find one more reason 
to re-build our unions and seize control from the Laborite officials. Our unions would 
become more effective weapons in the class struggle.

* From 'The Anvil' newsletter of Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG), issue 4/1, 
Feb. 2015.

http://www.anarkismo.net/article/27850

(en) Australia, Melbourne, Anarchist Affinity shared their event on Thursday 22nd

Our next event is on this coming Thursday! ---- "Australia has a long history of 
colonialism, racism, and genocide. It's a history that is whitewashed and denied in favour 
of the narrative we're presented with each year on 'Australia Day', or what should be more 
accurately titled Invasion Day. ---- Join Anarchist Affinity on Thursday 22nd at the 
Victorian Trades Hall (Meeting Room 1) to hear from three speakers on the real history 
behind Invasion Day and what it means today. ---- Speakers: ---- Vivian Malo - Vivian Malo 
is a Gooniyandi woman and co-founder of First Nations Liberation, a resistance movement 
and Black Power revival. ---- Meriki Onus - Activist member of WAR (Warriors of the 
Aboriginal Resistance) ---- Tony Birch - Indigenous academic, novelist and historian" ---- 
https://www.facebook.com/events/360791167426967/?fref=ts

Join

Invasion Day: Australia's Colonial Past and Present 
https://www.facebook.com/events/360791167426967/?ref=3&ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular
Thursday, January 22 at 6:30pm in UTC+11
Trades Hall in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Anarkismo.net: Australia, Melbourne, Protest in solidarity with Spanish anarchists by MACG

Against the gag laws, against state repression! -- When : noon, tuesday, 23 december -- 
Where: spanish consulate, 146 elgin st, carlton 3053 ---- On 16 december 2014, spanish 
police launched ?operation pandora?. Round-ups, searches, and arrests were carried out at 
squats in the ?casa de la monta?a? district of barcelona, at the libertarian san-andres 
reading room, the anarchist poble-sec reading room, as well as 15 private homes. ---- 
Presently, 11 anarchists have been detained incommunicado by the state and accused of 
belonging to an ?anarchist terrorist? organisation 
(https://libcom.org/news/spain-pandora?s-box-17122014). ---- At the same time as these 
attacks upon the anarchist movement, the spanish government has introduced new laws which 
criminalise a wide range of political activity. Among other things, the new laws ?allow 
fines of up to ?30,000 for disseminating photographs of police officers that are deemed to 
endanger them or their operations. Further, individuals participating in demonstrations 
outside parliament buildings or key installations could be fined up to ?600,000 if they 
are considered to breach the peace. Those insulting police officers could be fined up to 
?600. Burning a national flag could cost the perpetrator a maximum fine of ?30,000? 
(http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/20/spain-protests-security-law-parliament).

The police action and the enactment of new, harshly repressive laws come at the same time 
as the spanish state is implementing deeply unpopular austerity measures, part of a 
european-wide attack on working conditions 
(http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/01/spain-pain-austerity-deepens). In response, 
mass popular movements have arisen to contest these measures 
(therealnews.com/idirect.php?i=8838) And it is surely no coincidence that the state now 
aims to criminalise these movements and their activities.

On tuesday, we will be joining the tens of thousands of workers in spain who have already 
mobilised in response to state terror and repression to demand: the immediate release of 
the anarchists; the repeal of the new gag laws and; an end to the attack upon working 
conditions and workers? movements in spain.

Please join us outside the spanish consulate in melbourne at midday on tuesday and let 
workers in spain know that they do not struggle alone.

https://www.facebook.com/events/304306116435173/

Related Link: 
http://melbacg.wordpress.com/2014/12/21/protest-in-solidarity-with-spanish-anarchists/
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/27715

en) Australia, Melbourne, The MACG Anvil returns: Vol 3 No 1

Dear Comrades
The Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group has re-started its newsletter, The Anvil. Vol 3 
No 1 can be found as a PDF at the following page on our web site:
http://melbacg.wordpress.com/the-anvil/
In Solidarity,
Ablokeimet
for MACG.

Australia, Melbourne, Anarchist Affinity group - No Platform for Transphobia

We do not use the phrase ?hate speech? lightly. When we describe something as ?hate 
speech? we are talking about speech qualitatively different from mere bigotry, prejudice 
or ignorance. Hate speech is a weapon, wielded against the marginalised. Hate speech 
serves, constructs or reinforces systems of oppression that operate upon its targets. Hate 
speech is characterised by an attempt to dehumanise and delegitimise the very existence of 
its target, and in this sense it is ultimately eliminationist. By dehumanising its 
targets, hate speech encourages and supports further violence, marginalisation and 
oppression. ---- At its core, transphobia denies the legitimacy and reality of sex and 
gender diverse peoples? experience of gender. It is worth highlighting the extreme 
consequence of this denial. Trans people face extremely high levels of homelessness, 
poverty, physical and sexual violence, and social ostracism. Other systems of oppression, 
such as sexism and racism, deny the humanity, intelligence and worth of their targets. 
Transphobic attacks, in denying the reality of trans peoples? experience of gender, in 
effect deny that trans people even exist.

Transphobia is advanced in our midst by those claiming to be radical feminists. Trans 
Exclusionary Radical Feminists portray trans people as gender ?imposters? and argue that 
they undermine feminist organising. This is often accompanied by the intentional 
misgendering and involuntary outing of individual trans people. Through their actions and 
ideas, Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists promote discrimination, bullying and create 
the ideological basis for the further oppression of an already marginalised group of people

While these ideas are often put forward under the guise of feminism, they are no part of a 
genuinely libertatory feminist or anarchist movement. Those advocating transphobia must be 
confronted and rejected in the same manner we should confront and reject racists, 
homophobes and misogynists. We must deny those advocating hate speech any legitimacy in 
our midst.

Anarchist Affinity calls on all other anarchist groups and individuals to join us in 
rejecting transphobia by refusing to provide a platform to any person or group advancing 
transphobic hate speech, and by refusing to share a platform with persons perpetuating 
transphobia.

Anarchist Affinity.
14 June 2014.

Australia, Melbourne, Anarchist Affinity group - Anarchist Discussion Group: Confronting sexual violence on the left (pt)

Join Anarchist Affinity at 7:00pm on Wednesday 28 May at the New International Bookshop 
for a discussion about how we can confront sexual violence in left-wing groups, social 
movements and our day-to-day lives in a way which empowers sexual violence survivors and 
attempts to avoid common forms of victim blaming and silencing. ---- We need to make a 
political choice to believe survivors of violence. ---- Gendered violence is a key way in 
which women's oppression is maintained in our patriarchal society. In Australia, 1 in 5 
women and 1 in 20 men over the age of 15 have experienced sexual violence since the age of 
15 years. Violence perpetrated by men is the leading cause of preventable death, 
disability and illness in women aged 15-44. Aboriginal women, poor women, women of 
differing abilities, and sex and gender diverse people are significantly more likely to 
experience sexual violence.

All too often, survivors of sexual violence are greeted with disbelief, anger, and 
defensiveness when they should be believed and supported. This happens in left-wing 
groups, our social movements, our friendship circles, our workplaces, and countless other 
places in society. While most left-wing groups and movements share a stated opposition to 
sexism, this does not make them immune to the misogynist assumptions which underlie victim 
blaming and which often come up when people are confronted by sexual violence committed by 
their friends or political comrades.

Join Anarchist Affinity for a discussion about how we can confront sexual violence in 
left-wing groups, social movements and our day-to-day lives in a way which empowers sexual 
violence survivors and attempts to avoid common forms of victim blaming and silencing.

The discussion will be facilitated (with a progressive speaking list) and will start with 
a brief talk by Rebecca Winter, who recently wrote an article on this topic:
Silent No Longer: Confronting Sexual Violence in the Left

Content warning: this discussion will focus on sexual violence, other forms of gendered 
violence, victim blaming and misogyny. These topics are incredibly personal and painful 
for many survivors and others. Please make a special effort to think carefully about the 
way you engage with this topic and consider the impact of your words on others.

Other suggested readings:

BCC: Misogyny and the left - we need to start practicing what we preach

SWP Rape Allegations and Lessons for the Left

Betrayal - a critical analysis of rape culture in anarchist subcultures

(en) Anarkismo.net: Australia, Melbourne, Global Fire by MACG - Anarchist Affinity

South African author Michael Schmidt on the global impact of revolutionary anarchism
Join us for an exploration of the global history and impact of anarchist and syndicalist 
ideas and strategies with international author Michael Schmidt! ---- Wednesday, March 19, 
2014 6.30pm ---- Michael Schmidt is an investigative journalist, an anarchist theorist and 
a radical historian based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has been an active participant 
in the international anarchist milieu, including the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front 
(http://zabalaza.net/). His major works include ?Cartography of Revolutionary Anarchism 
(2013, AK Press) and, with Lucien van der Walt, ?Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class 
Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism? (2009, AK Press). The sequel to Black Flame,
'Global Fire: 150 Fighting Years of International Anarchism and Syndicalism', will be 
released by AK Press in 2015.

LOCATION: Meeting Room 1, Victorian Trades Hall, 54 Victoria St, Carlton, Melbourne.

An intro to the talk:

?Revolutionary anarchism gained a foothold in the daily lives of the popular classes 15 
decades ago in the heart of the industrialised world ? but also, crucially, in the 
colonial and post-colonial worlds where it offered the oppressed a practical set of tools 
with which they could challenge the tiny, heavily armed, parasitic elites. Anarchism 
provided the most devastating and comprehensive critique of capitalism, landlordism, the 
state, and power relations in general, whether based on gender, race, or other forms of 
oppression and exploitation. But it went far beyond that: African historian Michael
Schmidt examines the anarchist practice of running cities in Spain during the Cantonalist 
Revolt of 1873-1874, their control of the city of Guangzhou in China over 1921-1923, of 
the two-million-strong Shinmin free zone in Manchuria of 1929-1931, the 
anarchist-influenced free zone in Nicaragua in 1927-1933, the better-known territorial 
control exercised in parts of Mexico, Ukraine, and Spain, and their involvement in the 
Iranian Revolution of 1978. These and other examples show that far from eschewing the 
exercise of power, anarchists actively decentralised power into the hands of the popular 
classes, a ?counter-power? enlivened by working class counter-culture.?
There will be a Q&A and facilitated discussion after the talk.

This event is a joint initiative of Anarchist Affinity and the Melbourne Anarchist 
Communist Group.

For more information about Anarchist Affinity check out our website 
http://anarchistaffinity.org
or our facebook page http://www.facebook.com/AnarchistAffinity

For more information about the Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group check out: 
http://melbacg.wordpress.com

(en) Australia, Melbourne, Anarchist Affinity Call for actions

Summer Anarchist Reading Group : Over the past several weeks a comrade has been running a 
reading group in the city (Melbourne CBD) on Thursdays, 11am-1pm. Texts covered so far 
include ?Anarchy? by Errico Malatesta and ?Marx?s Economics for Anarchists? by Wayne 
Price. Texts for the next two weeks are listed below. You can get in touch by visiting the 
Facebook event here. 28 February: ?Decolonizing Anarchism: An Antiauthoritarian History of 
India?s Liberation Struggle? by Maia Ramnath Section: Excerpts from chapters 1 and 3. 7 
March: ?Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism? by Rudolf Rocker Section: TBA ---- Anarchist 
Affinity April 28 ---- A group of us are meeting at the Flinders St steps at 12 midday, to 
head to the Broadmeadows protest as a group. Come! Free the refugees!

https://www.facebook.com/events/427662757321273/?fref=ts
Corner Camp Rd and Hume Hwy, Broadmeadows (Hungary Jacks carpark)

For 10 days 27 refugees inside the Broadmeadows detention centre with adverse ASIO 
assessments went on hunger strike. The hunger strike has ended but they are still to 
receive justice. This makes this protest more important than ever. It will be an important 
show of solidarity for their struggle against indefinite detention. They have all been 
found to be in need of protection. They have not been charged or convicted of any crime 
and yet they are staring at a Kafkaesque nightmare of never ending imprisonment.

The protest will not only call for justice for ASIO refugees...

Close Manus, Close Nauru
End Mandatory Detention- not MITA extension
Don't Deport to Danger.

- Over 5,000 asylum seekers are currently detained in detention centres across the 
country, inc hundreds of children.
- Hundreds are languishing in hellish conditions on Nauru or Manus Is
- Despite being recognised as refugees in need of protection, dozens face life behind 
barbed wire after being rejected by ASIO. At MITA there are ASIO refugees who have been 
detained for over 4 years!
- MITA is set to dramatically expand its capacity to detain asylum seekers. This centre of 
anguish & misery should be closed immediately. All asylum seekers should be processed in 
the community with access to the support & services that they need.

From April 26-28 refugee rights groups and supporters are converging on Northam Detention 
Centre in Perth. The Melbourne protest outside Broadmeadows detention centre is in 
solidarity with the Perth Convergence. There will also be protests at the Sydney Villawood 
detention centre and Brisbane Immigration Transit Centre. We aim to shine a spotlight on 
the horrors of mandatory detention.

Organised by the Refugee Action Collective rac-vic.org
For more information call Liz Walsh 0405 736 265 or Sue Bolton 0413 377 978

For more information about the Perth Convergence visit rran.org
To register for the Perth convergence:
http:refugee-rights.net/converge/register/

For Public Transport to protest: Get train to Gowrie Station, walk up Sydney Rd/Hume Hwy.

Or Catch the train to Broadmeadows station then catch the 902 bus towards Chelsea down 
Camp Rd.

Meet in the Hungary Jacks carpark on the corner of Camp Rd and Hume Hwy for speeches 
followed by a march to the Broadmeadows Detention Centre.

Watch this space for more details.


A Call
RELEASE RANJINI DAY, MAY 10, 2013...... ACROSS AUSTRALIA...GET INVOLVED...

We are planning a Release Ranjini Day on May 10, 1st anniversary of Ranjini's indefinite 
detention, as part of broader campaign for ASIO-rejected refugees.
We want to have small groups of people gather across suburbs in capital cities and country 
regions for candlelight vigils at 5pm on this day.
One idea is that on cue at the same time, each group will play "Song For Selva', Les 
Thomas's moving tribute to all refugees, including a Tamil incarcerated for more than 3 
yrs. The CDs will be out in time and distributed. If can't get CD can download from net. 
We will have speak-outs, leaflets about ASIO-rejected refugees and posters of Ranjini 
everywhere. We will target the best places for traffic flow, shopping centres, malls etc. 
We will look to Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Darwin. Country 
areas will be Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Newcastle, Wollongong, Gold Coast, Cairns etc. 
We siuggest that MITA in Melbourne and Ranjini's jail, Villawood, have small vigils. Also 
we could do them in Dandenong and in the northern suburbs, maybe Sunshine or Preston. In 
Sydney the CBD as well as Parramatta.
(Please nominate places where 10-20 people could gather for an hour long vigil at 5pm on 
Friday, May 10. Once we have the venues, and people willing to organise in each group, we 
can then get together the exact plan for the night, and get it out to each group in order 
to synchronise our rallies.
Please spread the word. RELEASE RANJINI DAY IS FRIDAY, MAY 10, 5pm. Contact TREVOR GRANT 
on 0400 597 351.

About
Anarchist Affinity is a small group based in Melbourne, Australia. We intend to publish a 
detailed statement of shared positions here in the not too distant future.

It is our intention on this website to publish a wide variety of material by Anarchist 
Affinity members and supporters. Whilst member?s views broadly reflect those of the group, 
statements that reflect the formally adopted position of the group will be marked as such.

You can follow us on Twitter @AAffinity or Facebook.

(en) Australia, Melbourne, Captain Cooks Cottage Trashed With Paint for Invasion Day

The monuments and museums that fill this dead city only enrage us. ---- They impose on 
public space the supplanting societies creation myth. ---- The creation myth of Australian 
society is that rather than looting, murdering, and displacing the original inhabitants, 
the Europeans were bringing a higher order of civilisation, economic organisation and 
religion to savage lands. ---- The denial of this brutal and revolting history is nowhere 
more evident than on the 25th of January, the celebration of Australia Day ? the date of 
invasion. ---- This is why we trashed the absurd shrine to genocide, Captain Cooks 
Cottage, with paint. ---- The Australian state has constructed a deceitful myth of 
consensus. That we have all signed some kind of social contract to be good Australian 
citizens. Well fuck that we don't want your bourgeois morality or your so called 
?civilisation?.

We refuse to quietly submit and bow our heads to this commodified life of wage slavery.

We must act on our own behalf, directly and without mediation.

We must break with any group that seeks to limit the struggle, to negotiate, or to 
reconcile with the state or capital.

We must abandon the concept of appealing to the ?justice? of the coloniser and instead 
embark on a direct path of destruction of the existing order and a concrete practice of 
solidarity.

SOLIDARITY TO THE ORIGINAL PEOPLES OF THIS LAND FIGHTING BACK
FROM MUTITJULU, TO REDFERN, FITZROY, PALM ISLAND, AND EVERYWHERE

DESTROY THE COLONIAL SYSTEM THAT OPPRESSES US ALL

International Day of Solidarity with the Drivers of Dominos Pizza

September 15 was an international day of solidarity with the drivers of Dominos Pizza in
Brisbane, called by the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation of Australia. These workers, who
deliver pizza, are in a struggle against the arbitrary abuse of the firm, which cut their
salaries by 19%. The campaign was supported by the International Workers Association and
actions were carried out in many countries around the world. - History of the Conflict --
The drivers from Dominos Pizza in Brisbane, Australia, including members of the
Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation (ASF), have been confronting the company which cut their
salaries by 19% since April 9. >From that time they have been struggling to regain their
former pay. This struggle has been not only with Dominos, but also with the right wing
hierarchy of the SDA union, which also includes some Dominos employees.

In response to the inaction of the SDA, the drivers formed the General Trasport Workers
Association (GTWA, connected to the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation) and actively
coordinates the struggle to reinstate the salaries on the national level. Other employees
of the firm joined the ASF's branch union seeing that the other union functioning in
Dominos is concilliatory and does nothing to improve the situation of the drivers.

The union SDA, is one of the main ones in Australia, with approx. 230,000 members. SDA is
run by a right-wing Catholic hierarchy (bureaucracy) headed by Joe de Bruyn, who is not
against using the union to propagate clerical ideology.

ASF Brisbane organized a meeting with Tim Van Schyndel, director of labour relations for
Dominos in its Australia headquarters, demanding to regulate the question of the drivers
salaries. But the meeting did not bring results. Then the ASF-B organized a picket at the
headquarters, which was warmly received by local residents. They appealed to the ASF
Melbourne for support and they unanimously decided to support their comrades and picket
every weekend in front of Dominos, supporting the pickets in Brisbane.


The drivers had the following demands:

1) The basic wage should not be lower than the official minimum wage set by Fair Work
Australia and casual and part-time employees should also be guaranteed this minimum

2) This norm should be observed irrespective of the collective agreement

3) Workers should be paid for training and meetings they have to attend (in the restaurant
or on the Internet)

4) All tips from clients should go to the employees in their entirety and under no
circumstances should Dominos take any part of them

5) All casual and part-time workers should be paid public holiday rates in ratio to those
entitlements currently received by full-time, and part-time employees to the extent that
by 2014, all casual workers including drivers be paid at the rate of double-time for all
hours of work performed on public holidays.

Solidarity Action on September 15

Australia. Pickets and solidarity meetings with the drivers are organized in Brisbane,
Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth.

?rgentina. The Society of Resistance of FORA in Rosario translated and distributed the
appeal of the Australian comrades.

Great Britain. The Solidarity Federation called for people to send solidarity protests
through the firms page on Australian Facebook and on September 17 to flood the Australian
office with protest faxes and letters of protest, so as to paralyze the company's
communications for a while. SF organized protests in front of restaurants in London,
Manchester, Leeds, Brighton, Bitterne Southhampton and other places.
http://wessexsolidarity.wordpress.com/2012/09/15/solent-solfed-picket-do...

In Manchester, activists from SF from the city and West Yorkshire, together with members
of the Anarchist Federation and other libertarian comrades picketed Dominos near the
university. The manager called the police but they did not intervene. The action was
successful: during the picket only one group of customers went in.
(http://www.solfed.org.uk/?q=manchester/dominos-solidarity-in-manchester)

In Bristol, an Australian woman approached the picketers and thanked them for solidarity
with Australian workers. She promised to inform about the action on local radio in
Melbourne when she returned home. In New Cross members of South London SolFed delivered a
protest letter to Dominos Pizza and spoke with the drivers there; the area was posted with
leaflets and stickers supported the Brisbane drivers.
http://solfed.org.uk/?q=south-london/solidarity-with-australian-dominos-... A picket in
Sheffield in front of Dominos was organized by the Industrial Workers of the World. And in
Leeds, members of the IWW and the AFed also picketed.

Brazil. The Brazilian Workers Confederation (COB) organized solidarity actions in Sao
Paolo and Porto Alegre.

Germany. Members of the Free Workers' Union (FAU) picketed Dominos restaurants in Bonn,
Cologne and Langenfeld. They gave leaflets to the workers, passersby and residents which
explained the basics of the labour conflict in the firm. On a placard in Cologne was
written "19% wage cut in Dominos! Today Brisbane, tomorrow Cologne?
(http://allgemeinessyndikatkoeln.blogsport.de/2012/09/15/protest-bei-domi...)

Spain. There were different solidarity actions with the drivers of Dominos organized by
members of the CNT-AIT in different cities. In Mataro, activists from Premia and Mataro
held a picket at a restaurant on St. Antoni St.
(http://www.cntpremia.blogspot.com.es/2012/09/concentracio-dominos-pizza-...)

In Gijon, a banner was hung on one restaurant and different graffiti against the company
was made.

In Cornelia de Llobregat there was a picket in front of Dominos when they have the most
customers there. They read a communique a few times and gave out about 300 flyers to
passersby, customers and workers.

In Salamanca, members of the CNT (from the CNT union in Telepizza) informed workers about
the campaign and called on workers in the branch to follow the example of the Australian
colleagues, chosing the path of self-organization
(http://quienparteyreparte.blogspot.com/2012/09/dominos-pizza-explotacion...). In Elche
there was a picket in front of Dominos Pizza which lasted about one hour. The participants
gave out leaflets and brochures to passersby, customers and workers and they put up some
posters. (http://cntelx.blogspot.com/2012/09/jornada-mundial-de-lucha-contra-domin...)

Canada. ? protest against Dominos was held in Vancouver.

Netherlands. The Amsterdam group of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Union made a picket in front
of Dominos. The participants explained the situation to pizza delivers and they expressed
sympathy with their Australian colleagues. One of them openly expressed solidarity with
them. (http://anarcho-syndicalisme.nl/wp/?p=1779)
New Zealand. ? protest against Dominos took place in Auckland. It was organized by
activists from ?Action against Poverty? and Auckland anarchists and supporters. Another
action took place in the capital in Wellington.

Norway. ?ctivists from the Norwegian Syndicalist Federation distributed leaflets at a
Dominos in Oslo.

Poland. Members of the Union of Syndicalists, Poland visited the office of the company in
Warsaw on September 14 and delivered a protest. On September 15, then hung banners on the
restaurant on al. Jerozolimskie, which drew the attention of many passersby. They gave out
leaflets explaining the struggle of the drivers from Dominos Pizza in Australia and about
the situation of workers in the food service industry in Poland. The police and manager of
the restaurant showed up. He made photographs of the picket to send in to the head office
and tried to make an impression by offering the protesters
pizza.(http://cia.media.pl/miedzynarodowy_dzien_solidarnosci_z_kierowcami_domin...)

Russia. For the international solidarity day, stickers were put up at the entrance of a
Dominos restaurant reading ?September 15, international day of solidarity with drivers
from Dominos Pizza in Brisbane. Shame on the company that lowered wages by 19%! No to
exploitation! International Workers Association". Leaflets with a similar text were left
on cars, including the ones for delivering pizza.

Slovakia. Since it that country there are no Dominos, Priama akcia sent letters of protest
to the company.

USA. Solidarity actions took place in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Long Beacg,
Cleveland, Providence, Tampa, Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Minniapolis/ St. Paul and other cities.
Most of them were attended by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Workers'
Solidarity Alliance and other local activists. Members of the Workers' Solidarity Alliance
took active part in the campaign in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Long Beach and
Providence (together with the group ?Common Struggle?. In Missoula (Montana) there was a
picket in front of Dominos organized by the Workers Solidarity Alliance and the Zootown
Solidarity Network. In Ann Arbor the action was organized by Lansing Workers' Center.

France. French anarcho-syndicalists held pickets in front of Dominos in Caen,
Clermont-Ferrand, Paris, Toulouse, Pau and other places. Leaflets were distributed in 4
restaurants in the Paris region (in Nanterre, Besonne, Sartrouville and
Enghien-les-Bains) entitled "Why the pizza delivers get only pennies? and they spoke with
the workers. They discussed with workers about their conditions and what is happening in
Australia. In Toulouse about 200 leaflets were given out in front of a Dominos restaurant
and they spoke with the workers. In Caen there was a picket and leaflets were given to
residents, customers and passersby. An administrator came out and demanded an explanation
and declared that the situation in Australia does not concern him and that he would inform
the management of the company in France. In Pau a picket was made and the comrades talked
to the workers, asking them to deliver leaflets to the company headquarters.

Activists of the union of retail and services of SUD delivered a protest letter to Dominos
on Boulevard Saint-Marcel 40 in the center of Paris.

Translated from the website of KRAS-IWA: www.aitrus.info

(Information in this article based on news sent Sept. 15-18. Updated Sept. 18.)


www.iwa.ait.org

Bron :  a-infos-en@ainfos.ca

(en) Australia, Melbourne Anarchist Club - MACannounce

The MAC-Infoshop! ---- The Melbourne Anarchist Club info-shop has now officially opened
through an amalgamation of MAC and Anarres Books. The launch occurred on the 11th of
August, with slam poetry by Paulie, and Bernard Young (Pirate Satellite), A Commoner?s
Revolt and Dead Peasants playing some their respective brands of rebel music. Footage of
the event will be posted onto the MAC Facebook page. The Infoshop is open 12-5 Sundays and
will also be open this Friday night (see below). The MAC-Infoshop is the only Anarchist
Bookshop in Melbourne and we stock a wide range of contemporary, historical and
theoretical anarchist classics, plus other items like anarchist cards, various forms of
rebel music, pamphlets and (soon!) anarchist clothing and patches.

Friday Nights at MAC Returns...!

On Friday August 24 (tonight!), Friday Nights at MAC will return. Get along for some
refreshments, music and general good-hearted anarchist revelry from 7:30pm. The
MAC-Infoshop will also be open ? feel free to drop in to discuss the finer points of
Kropotkin?s The Conquest of Bread, the Occupy Movement or the football finals (and otherwise?)

Dominos Dispute...

MAC is supporting a dispute led by the Brisbane Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation (ASF-B) and
supported also by the Melbourne branch of the ASF. Drivers at a Brisbane store were asked
to take a 19% pay cut and the Brisbane-ASF is currently representing some of those workers
in arbitration before Fair Work Australia. This dispute will continue with a solidarity
action taking place internationally on the 15th of September. The ASF is an affiliate of
the International Worker?s Association, which has sections in countries all across the world.

Blacklight Issue 1...

The new Blacklight, Issue 1 (following on from last time?s issue 0#) ? the journal of the
Melbourne Anarchist Club that discusses issues of anarchism and organisation ? is now
available at the MAC-Infoshop or contact MAC if you would like to subscribe.

Sedition 2.0?

In March this year, MAC, Jura Books (Sydney) and Organise! (Adelaide) launched the first
edition of Sedition. Unfortunately, Organise are no longer with us but Jura and MAC will
continue the publication, in the hope to move towards a federative structure between the
two groups further down the line. Sedition is an anarchist magazine designed to express
the common politics between our three geographically disparate groups. We are heavily
focused on content that relates anarchism to the Australian context, as well as on
information and debates about our politics, as we understand in the here and now.

Sedition is permanently open for submissions. We?re interested in:

And Sedition blog @ anarchy.org.au

- journalistic reports on struggles going on in your community and workplace. Strike &
rally reports, etc.

- anarchist ideas and practice, especially from groups or individuals from other places in
Australia.

- there are no hard & fast rules about what we will or wont publish in Sedition, whether
you are an anarchist or not. The aim is to create an anarchist magazine, and editorial
decisions are the prerogative of the three groups.

- if you?re not sure if you?ve got something appropriate for Sedition, pitch it to your
closest group: mac@anarchy.org.au, jura@jura.org.au, or organize@riseup.net

- if you would like to see your article in the next printed edition, you?ll need to get it
to us ASAP.

Sedition is no longer simply a print magazine. We have decided post articles on the
Sedition blog as soon as they become available through the editorial process. Check
anarchy.org.au to see if any new material posted on Sedition blog. But stay tuned for
full-blown Sedition blog that will be integrated into this site.

Print editions will be made available for download on the blog. You can become a
distributor of Sedition in your hometown by simply downloading the first edition and
printing it at home. You?re welcome to either collect donations for the project or give it
away for free.

Need a Space for an Event?

The Melbourne Anarchist Club is available to hire (for free or similar in most cases) for
any progressive artistic or community activity that you have in mind. We have regularly
shown DVDs at the space in the past, amongst other things, and currently have a martial
arts group that uses the MAC regularly ? so almost anything goes. Please contact us if
you would like to utilise the MAC for any purpose.

25 Years of MAC!

This November 3rd will be the 25th Anniversary of the (re)founding of the Melbourne
Anarchist Club. The original MAC was founded in the 1880s, and the current MAC is its
successor organisation. We will be holding a celebratory event on November 3rd, with a
BBQ, music and other aspects to be included further down the track. Keep it open!

Want to get involved?

The Melbourne Anarchist Club is an organisation for anarchists living in Melbourne and
surrounding areas. You must be able to meaningfully participate in decision making, which
means making it to a meeting regularly.

Our Aims and Principles are available on our website.

The Launch of the Direct Action Collective!

The Direct Action Collective (DAC) is a joint initiative of the Melbourne Anarchist Club
and the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation of Melbourne. The DAC is an informal collection of
anarchists ? that is, libertarian socialists/libertarian communists and
anarcho-syndicalists. Together, we aim: to be engaged in working class struggles and
socially progressive movements; to maintain an Anarchist presence at protests, strikes and
other direct actions; to unite revolutionary Anarchists; and to promote the ideas of
Anarchism to the public. Why march alone? Join us.

In solidarity

Bron :

Melbourne Anarchist Club

62 St Georges Rd Northcote

mac@anarchy.org.au

mac.anarchobase.com

Open Saturdays & Sundays 1pm?5pm

Australia, Melbourne, second Anarchist Bookfair - Update

The Anarchist Melbourne Bookfair will be a free event held at Abbotsford Convent (St
Heliers Street, Abbotsford) from 10am-6pm on Saturday 4th of August. The bookfair consists
of up to 40 stalls of independent book-sellers and activist groups. Alongside the stalls
there will be about 21 one-hour workshops running all day on all kinds of anarchist and
direct action topics. ---- The Anarchist Melbourne Bookfair will be a free event held at
Abbotsford Convent (St Heliers Street, Abbotsford) from 10am-6pm on Saturday 4th of
August. The bookfair consists of up to 40 stalls of independent book-sellers and activist
groups. Alongside the stalls there will be about 21 one-hour workshops running all day on
all kinds of anarchist and direct action topics. There is also a small kids' space with
volunteers to help carers, or for carers to self-organise child minding, or if the kids
just want to play indoors. To volunteer in the kids' space please contact us.

How to get there:

All the information on how to get there by bus, bike, trains or whatever is on the
Abbotsford Convent website. Try not to come by car as there is often a Farmers' Market at
the Collingwood Children's Farm and parking can be scarce.

About the organisers:

The people on the A Melbourne Events organising collective of the Anarchist Melbourne
Bookfair are from a variety of anarchist and activist groups which include: Anarchist
Feminists, Barricade Bookshop, Eureka Campaign, Guerrilla Gardeners, Industrial Workers of
the World, Kate Sharpley Library, Loophole Community Centre, M.A.C., Melbourne Indymedia,
Ned Ludd Appreciation Society, The Sharehood, Squatters and Unwaged Workers Airwaves
(SUWA), 3CR, Tunnerminawait & Maulboyhneer Commemoration Group, Upsiders, Wednesday Action
Group, and Workers Solidarity Network. We are Margaret, Peter, Rebecca, Levin, Tristan,
Dimitri, Molasses, Adam, Franca, Shane and Peter. We also organise an annual Camp Anarchy
in March every year.

Ethos:
The Anarchist Melbourne Bookfair is for a society based on mutual aid and voluntary
co-operation ? against all forms of government and economic oppression ? and believe
everyone should share in the general prosperity. We struggle to break down racial,
religious, national and sex barriers, and to fight for a just world without borders.

Contact us:
If you want to get in touch please use the contact form.

Finances:
Our budget for 2012 is looking like this: Expenditure
Venue 1400
Flyers 200
Programme book 200
Insurance 600
Extra Table hire 100
TOTAL 2500 Income
Stalls and workshops 1000
Programme Ads 100
Benefit Gig 300
Donations 1100 (!!??)
TOTAL 2500

Donate:
Do you think an Anarchist Bookfair in Melbourne is a great idea but don't have time to
help out? Why not donate then?
If you can please make a direct deposit into our bank account:-
Name: A Melbourne Events,
BSB: 814-282,
Account: 31139932 Thanks!
Related Link: http://amelbournebookfair.org

Bron : a-infos-en@ainfos.ca

(en) Australia, Melbourne, second Anarchist Bookfair

Hello, The second annual Melbourne Anarchist Bookfair is being held on Saturday, August 4
(10am - 6pm) at the Abbotsford Convent. MAC will have a stall as will dozens of other
anarchist, radical and activist groups.There will also be workshops and lots else going on
at the Convent during the day. Entry is free. For more information please see the Bookfair
website:
http://amelbournebookfair.org/

Bron :

 a-infos-en@ainfos.ca