[machine translation]
Thursday, November 6, Brussels hosted a historic union demonstration which gathered more
than 100,000 people against the austerity policies of the new government. Yet it was not
until a few hours for the media and politicians about the show in heart condemning the
clashes between protesters and police around the Gare du Midi. --- Hungry for sensational
images, the media with the help of Christian De Coninck - spokesman for the Brussels
police - have separated the wheat from the chaff, the good from the wicked thugs
protesters. First cities, the port of Antwerp Dockers but it took a long time to manage
that anarchists are also covered by the media and political opprobrium. ---- In fact, the
conservative management had been rung several days earlier, especially in the writings of
Francis Van De Woestyne (La Libre) or statements Jacqueline Galand (Minister MR mobility),
where the right to strike, which was called into issue. We know this government is
anti-union, it carries both a political and cultural war against the union rallies.
Margaret Thatcher as in the 80s, he dreamed of limiting the right to strike or break any
social movement.
Remember, between 84 and 85, the UK knows the most important since World War II social
conflict: the miners' strike. Faced with the miners' struggle against the closure of coal
mines, the Thatcher government decided to break union resistance to impose a new economic
era: neo-liberalism.
To break the social movements, the technique is known and well established. Designate the
bad protesters. So Thatcher made striking miners "enemies from within" and makes them
shoot the repression of the state. The media, in their role as watchdog, present as
undemocratic strikes and strikers like thugs. The police repression (militarized for the
occasion) will be 20,000 wounded, 11,000 arrests and six minors will be murdered by the
police! Justice, which is never neutral, make strikes illegal and decide on the
dissolution of the National Union of Mine Workers.
This technique division protesters is probably as old as the emergence of social movements
themselves. It will be applied during the "strike of the Century" against the 60-61 winter
the only law of Gaston Eyskens. There are good protesters, Democrats and peaceful face and
the bad, undemocratic thugs.
Against the propaganda, nobody wonders why workers-Artists come to use physical violence
to express their discontent. As the British miners or Belgian workers 60s, Antwerp dockers
fight against the destruction of their working conditions (already among the most
dangerous!). Indeed, both the Dutch and French dockers, Belgian face the liberalization of
port activity. Liberalization provides among other things the possibility for companies to
stop using the statutory dockers but to untrained, under multiple precarious status as
temporary with the key below 30% wage non-unionized workers!
The destruction of social gains and casualization is the lead government intends Charles
Michel politics, gun of NV-A door. Moreover, Bart de Wever (the real head of the
government) has mentioned in an interview that there is no alternative to the policy of
the government. There is no alternative? This statement echoes the famous phrase
attributed to Margaret Thatcher, "There is no alternative." In the eyes of Michel De Wever
and as the eyes of Thatcher 35 years ago, there is no alternative to capitalism,
neoliberal reforms, austerity that kills worker-Artists, unravels our acquired Social and
always pushes us further into poverty. This is a reminder that violence against workers
Artists-we occupied the seat November 6 FEB (Federation of Enterprises in Belgium) whose
collusion with the government are known.
But as rightly said Bertolt Brecht, "a river carrying everything they say it is violent,
but never said anything about the violence which enclose the banks." Because violence is
the government which leads (just go for a ride in Antwerp NV-A doing both racist and
ultra-security policies to realize). Faced with austerity measures planned by the new
government, facing growing repression, physical, moral and human violence, as against the
refusal to hear the social movements ( as De Wever said there no alternative to government
policy ) we can only understand the growing discontent and the use of violence by protesters!
Retort is that we live in a democracy? But there he was to still believe this blatant lie?
From the moment the so-called democratic laws are made by the same people who defend the
bosses and the rich, who can still believe that these laws forbid the people? The laws do
not help those they represent. Just see the impunity enjoyed by the police in many cases
of police violence yet proven! The jails are full of poor people, because any violation of
the order of the rich is wrong...
Operated by the government and media division aims to legitimize state violence but
unacceptable social protest, she wants us to believe that if we walk in the nails we will
be heard. Yet history shows that any social movement is made of protest, disobedience and
violence. The struggle for the 8 hour working day, the struggle for social rights,
radicalism is imposed by governments and states that refuse an egalitarian and democratic
society.
In the aftermath of clashes between police and protesters, this division has taken a
different form. Because politicians and the media fear that protesters identify with these
events, they argue that the extreme right was present in this event. While it is true that
right-wing extremists were identified as Pascal Cornet was a member of the neo-Nazi
splinter group Nation, it was driven by anti-fascist activists. One of our comrades and
anarchist militant photographer also been a victim of physical assault for racist reasons
and two members of the Autonomous Nationalists Dutch were also spotted. If racist acts are
unacceptable, however, it is absurd to assume that the presence of some hidden fascists
can influence or infiltrate thousands of demonstrators. Indeed, if we follow this logic,
the latest manifestation of GAIA was a fascist demonstration since Nation was present and
visible!
For Antwerp dockers, as with many social conflicts, the extreme right is trying to
infiltrate struggles to enjoy the discontent of workers-Artists. It was as if Vlaams
Belang port of Antwerp. If their populist and racist speech can influence some
workers-Artists, this is not the case for the majority of them are aware of their dual
discour s (since the Vlaams Belang did nothing to oppose the liberalization of port
activities desired by Europe as they sit there).
Antifascism media is about as credible as that of Onkelinx (PS) attacks ministers NV-A. It
is they who by their policies and pro-austerity speech paved the way for populist and
extreme right. After stating that the anarchists infiltrated the dockers, the media now
say that racist acts of some dockers necessarily mean that they are fascists. Nothing is
more false, as when some claim that they are actually undercover cops or other events that
would be responsible for "agents provocateurs".
The terms "thugs", "anarchists" or other "agents provocateurs" are made to delegitimize an
event of historic proportions but also to make illegitimate use of violence by the people.
The aim is to promote the soft consensus and stifling the anger of the exploited-es. In
sum, we are allowed to express our disagreement but according to the rules set by the
dominant. Even those that require us their everyday violence. The media and politicians
want us to believe that it is the violence of the demonstrators who discredits the event,
then that is the same media and politicians long before these events had already condemned
this event, in particular by making the door -words strike against bosses!
Today the state condemns the dockworkers hoping to divide the population. The state
condemns them for acts of violence? The history of the British miners shows that if
tomorrow the anti-union measures are passed, the state condemn the union for striking. And
if we fall into this trap, one day the state will condemn us for simply expressing our
discontent. And that day, we will all be considered thugs!
