Contents ---- 1. UPRISING! Coming to a democracy near you. ---- 2. ?Who Guards the
Guardians?' ---- 3. Industrial Round up: Posties strike at Bridgewater, Building workers
wildcat in Runcorn, NUT/NASUWT Teachers? Strike: a long time coming and a waste of effort,
Brighton bin workers. ---- 4. Spanish Anarchist Prisoner Support. --- 5. Parisian
anarchists and others protest at the murder by skinheads of Cl?ment M?ric. --- UPRISING!
Coming to a democracy near you ---- The past months have seen huge uprisings on the
streets of Brazil, Turkey and Slovenia. In Brazil, protests began over bus fare prices and
cost of tickets for the coming World Cup. In Turkey, residents wanted to save trees. In
Slovenia, the issue was a speed radar scheme. These seemingly small issues were just the
last straw. In Turkey, the real problem is an increasingly Islamist state.
In Brazil, poverty is the issue. In Slovenia, it is political corruption. And all
populations are angry at the growing economic crisis and forced austerity.
In each case, the state clamped down on peaceful protest at an early stage, and with
unprecedented violence. Tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets have been used. People
have died and there have been mass arrests and detentions. The protesters bravely refuse
to be forced off the streets. On one level, it seems like the Arab Spring has spread to
other continents.
But there is a crucial difference. Unlike the dictatorships of the Arab Spring, these
countries are supposedly democracies. Their governments were voted in. Whilst anarchists
reject such ?representative democracy? in favour of ?direct democracy?, it is nonetheless
the case that these are countries in which, in theory, people regularly get to elect their
rulers.
Of course it is not unusual for mass protests to take place in modern democracies, nor for
states to use ?non-lethal? and even lethal weapons against them. The British state in
Northern Ireland is an example close to home. But it is not common, and 2013 has seen an
escalation in the level of violence by ?democratic? states.
We also can see that these democracies were well prepared to attack their electorate. What
else is an arsenal of tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon for? Which other states
have these weapons in reserve, waiting for a demonstration that won?t fizzle out quietly?
As austerity bites harder here, and the recently announced measures against the unwaged
and public employees kick in, the working class in Britain will have to mobilise more
demonstrations that will hold their ground. Then we?ll see what our state is prepared to
do to us.
?Who Guards the Guardians??
This is what we ask when the very people who are supposed to protect the public interest,
instead betray it. Usually they are a part of the state. But the state doesn?t own up to
its own abuses of power, and ?whistle blowers? have often spilled the beans. In June,
there were two more important examples of this.
Peter Francis, who worked for Scotland Yard's ?Special Demonstration Squad? in 1980s and
1990s, admitted that when he had worked undercover he had been instructed to find
information that would reflect badly on the family of Stephen Lawrence. This was to
undermine the campaign to expose police protection of the racists who murdered Lawrence 20
years ago. Francis says that this instruction was authorised at a high level.
Edward Snowden, a systems administrator contracted to work for the National Security
Agency in the US, claimed that the US government was obtaining vast amounts of data, to
which it has no legal right, on private citizens. It seems that the British government was
using this to obtain similar information on British people by proxy.
But ?blowing the whistle? does not necessarily make someone a champion of freedom. Snowden
is reported to have worked for the CIA itself 2007-9. In 1212 he apparently donated to the
election fund of the right-wing libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul, who opposes
taxes being spent on healthcare and welfare, and opposes the Civil Rights Act. No one
forced Peter Francis to spy on political activists, and the Lawrence campaign was not the
only one that he infiltrated. Snowden and Francis collaborated for a very long time before
apparently putting the ?public good? before their own careers.
Now Snowden is on the run from the US security agencies that his career supported. He is
looking for a country hostile to the US, where he can live at the expense of the state.
And his story is Hollywood gold dust! Peter Francis? June 25th Guardian interview details
uncritically his conversion to the concept of police transparency, even though, like Mark
Kennedy, he admits sleeping with women in these campaigns. You have to ask, how long
before he would have been dragged before an inquiry, and maybe even faced charges? He has
saved his own skin. Many of the people investigated by the US and British states are not
so lucky.
Britain?s recent enthusiasm for whistle-blowing as a route to justice, shows how little
faith we have in ?official? checks and balances. We feel reassured that there are still
people who will say ?enough is enough?. But this reassurance is just another way in which
our political anger at the state as a whole is diffused. The whistle-blowing obscures the
underlying structures of power and class-interest that give rise to the abuses in the
first place. Anarchists argue that the state is fundamentally about repression and
exploitation, and it is not the case that freedom and equality are denied to us only when
things go wrong.
Industrial round-up
Posties strike at Bridgwater
When a militant postal worker at Bridgewater delivery office in the West Country was
victimised and suspended from work last July, 110 fellow workers went out on a wildcat
strike that lasted 48 hours. The activist was reinstated and workers forced employers to
agree to national talks about the deteriorating situation at the Delivery Office.
However, bullying tactics by bosses continued, with workers made to work faster, and when
full-time workers left for other jobs, their positions were replaced with part-time posts,
increasing the workload pressure. Now posties have overwhelmingly agreed to strike on
three consecutive Saturdays from June 29th.
The discontent at Bridgewater is not an exception. All over Britain postal workers are
concerned over pay, pensions and conditions. The situation is tinder dry and could lead to
action right across the UK.
Solidarity delivers the goods!
Building workers wildcat at Runcorn
670 building workers came out on wildcat strike at Runcorn Thermal Power Station in late
June. They took action against bullying from bosses. They had previously walked out in
January over appalling conditions in the kitchens and toilets. That time they were paid
?250 to return to work.
Brighton bin workers action continues
300 workers at Cityclean in Brighton went on strike for 7 days after the local council,
controlled by the Green Party, imposed pay cuts of up to ?4,000 a year. There were mass
pickets for up to 12 hours a day at the depot. The strikers organised a march through
Brighton ending in a rally. They have now suspended strikes whilst they conduct a ballot
over a new offer. GMB union officials engineered a second strike to take place the
following week, but for refuse cart drivers only. United action by all the refuse workers
would have strengthened their hand. The dispute caused a rift in the local Green Party.
The unrest among bin workers spread to Bromley and Croydon with three day strikes in those
boroughs announced for early July over a derisory 2% pay offer by employer Veolia.
NUT/NASUWT Teachers' Strike: Failing to engage the working class
Anarchists in the education sector don't view the prospect of a one-day strike as the
start of the revolution, but on Thursday 27th June in Manchester we went on strike with
our colleagues, and turned out at 10.00am for a march and a rally in Piccadilly Gardens.
There were many things wrong with the action. At a 10.00am the commuters, gone. 11.00am
is too early for lunchtime people to catch the rally. Anyhow, when the whistle blew, a
noisy and friendly assembly of around 1,000 teachers, children and supporters set off on
their strike trip from Cathedral Gardens, accompanied by the usual trotskyist hangers-on.
Our arrival for the rally was equally noisy with whistles and hooters. We stood around
waiting for the rabble-rousing words of the union leadership. Nothing! No words of wisdom,
telling us how wonderful we were coming out on strike. Nothing! Instead, stewards herded
us into a hotel for the speeches. The leadership had spent OUR money on a hotel to remove
OUR visibility from the streets. Inside! We needed to show other workers in Manchester
that we are angry about the loss of pay increments and the prospect of working until we
are 68, and seriously not happy with cuts in pensions whilst paying increased
contributions. But no!
Unions like the NUT and the NASUWT will never be truly about bringing struggle to the
membership. We have to do it for ourselves. They have had a mandate for industrial action
at strike level for almost a year, but left the first strike until June, when exams are
over and we are winding down for the Summer.
This is not the way. We need grassroots organisation which includes all education sector
workers, and to take wildcat and lengthy strike action, with the support of students, if
we are going to make any perceivable dent in government policies and attacks on our
working conditions.
Spanish Anarchist Prisoner Support
On June 21st around 200 people with flags and banners held a march through the centre of
Barcelona demanding freedom for five jailed anarchists. They had been moved from the Soto
del Real jail into the FIES isolation and monitoring regime set up in 1989 as a
counter-terrorism measure but extended to other inmates in 1991. This was as part of the
pre-trial detention conditions ordered by a judge. They had been arrested in May during
raids on an anarcho-syndicalist (CNT) centre in Sabadell, near Barcelona. The charges
include alleged participation in demonstrations that ended in rioting, and using Facebook
for spreading political ideas. Essentially they have been accused of supporting terrorism
and belonging to a terrorist group, but as supporters write; ?Their situation cannot be
misinterpreted as an isolated case, but as yet one more action from the repressive
strategy of the Spanish State, which is currently re-tracing past steps to reinforce its
authoritarianism. The arrest of these five anarchists is a precedent that will be used in
the future to justify indiscriminate persecution.?
Parisian anarchists and others protest at the murder by skinheads of Cl?ment M?ric
Thousands of Parisian anarchists and others protest at the murder by skinheads of Cl?ment
M?ric, an 18-year-old antifascist. For more on this story see our blog:
http://www.afed.org.uk/blog/society/384-solidarity-statement-with-anarchists-and-anti-fascists-marching-against-the-murderers-of-clement-meric.html
---
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About the Anarchist Federation
The Anarchist Federation is an organisation of class struggle anarchists (based in Britain
and Ireland, but with many contacts overseas) which aims to abolish Capitalism and all
oppression to create a free and equal society. This is Anarchist Communism.
We see today?s society as being divided into two main opposing classes: the ruling class
which controls all the power and wealth, and the working class which the rulers exploit to
maintain this. By racism, sexism and other forms of oppression, as well as war and
environmental destruction the rulers weaken and divide us. Only the direct action of
working class people can defeat these attacks and ultimately overthrow capitalism.
As the capitalist system rules the whole world it?s destruction must be complete and world
wide. We reject attempts to reform it such as working through parliament and national
liberation movements (like the IRA) as they fail to challenge capitalism itself. Unions
also work as a part of the capitalist system, so although workers struggle within them,
they will be unable to bring about capitalism?s destruction unless they go beyond these
limits.
Organisation is vital if we?re to beat the bosses, so we work for a united anarchist
movement and are affiliated to the International of Anarchist Federations.
Contact the Anarchist Federation
Email: info [at] afed.org.uk
Web: http://www.afed.org.uk
Write to:
BM ANARFED,
London, WC1N 3XX,
England, UK.
Local group and regional contacts: email addresses, websites, Facebook and Twitter:
http://www.afed.org.uk/organisation/contact.html
International of Anarchist Federations (our international coordination):
http://www.i-f-a.org/
--
Resistance bulletin no. 153, July/August 2013
The Anarchist Federation: http://www.afed.org.uk
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