Dear all,
The call "Noborder goes Blockupy III" was already sent to this list to mobilize for 18.3.15 to Frankfurt and just to let you know about a working meeting on "social and transnational strike" the day after (19.3.), which might be interesting for some more people on the action2-mailinglist as well.
Best greetings,
hagen
Dear all,
Find attached the inivitation again to our working meeting on 19.3. and we have added below a first proposal for an agenda.
A few more remarks:
- this meeting takes place in the frame of blockupy discussions and blockupy mobilisation to Frankfurt, but it is not a decision making meeting on the perspectives of blockupy. Many of us are interested and convinced, that an axis on social transnational strike might be an important framing element (beside other activities or another axis on commons for example) for the perspective of blockupy as a transnational network. But a decision about this has to be made in another common international blockupy conference after 18.3. (and date and city hopefully will be clarified within next weeks).
- "working meeting" means, that for 19.3. we do not intend to invite as much people as possible to get them newly interested in social transnational strike. Rather we approach some more activists, who are already involved in labour struggles and strikes and the aim of this day is to deepen discussions on some key questions based on our previous debates.
- Consequentially a two hours slot of our meeting is dedicated to a few workshops, which we want to prepare as good as possible within the next three weeks. Thus we want to establish small working groups at least on the four topics, which are listed already in the agenda. A transnational composition of these working groups would be best and we will communicate next days, who are the respective contact persons to join the preparations.
- It would be nice and helpful to know in advance, who will join the meeting on 19.3. in Frankfurt (see registration contact-address below) and if you/your group want to participate in the preparation process. If yes, let us know about your main interest and if you want to join one of the working groups for the workshops.
- Of course the program is open if any group want to propose AND prepare another workshop on another topic. We think it is important for any other topic, that a preparation process starts now, before the meeting at 19.3..
- For all workshops the respective small workinggroups should prepare at least a paper or text or some theses, which should be send to us and/or the transnational strike-mailinglist latest on Monday 16.3.15. On this base we want to compile a kind of reader, which can be handed out on 17./18./19.3. to all coming participants of our working meeting.
- The short timeframe of our working meeting on 19.3. is adapted to the conditions of these days in March: after a full day of actions on 18.3. we cannot start the next day before 10. a.m.; and if participants can not stay until Friday, they have to leave not so late afternoon. Thus we limit our meeting to 3 p.m. We know - as mentioned in Rome - that we have to find an extra weekend within next months to create more space for our exchange and discussions. 19.3. is insofar only another small step in order to establish and to push a deeper working process. And to quote some italian friends: "To say that it is the time of social strike means to recognize that the social strike needs its time."
Best greetings,
hagen
Towards a social and transnational Strike?
Invitation to a working meeting on 19.3.2015 in Frankfurt
(Act III on strikes in the frame of Blockupy discussions about perspectives in social struggles)
On 18.3.15 we expect a big transnational mobilisation in Frankfurt against the official opening of the new tower of the European Central Bank, against one symbol of the capitalist policy of austerity, precarity and exploitation. On 18.3 we will denounce the power of the Troika and the blackmailing against Greece: we will make the ECB and the European Union accountable for their actions! We know that no electoral result alone will be powerful enough to give us the force we need against the power of capital, for this reason we will be in the streets of Frankfurt and we want to use this opportunity of coming together to stay for another day and to try to deepen the discussion on practical and theoretical questions on social and transnational strike.
How to strike if you are hired in temporary contracts and every time in danger to be fired? What does it mean to strike for a precarious freelancer? Who can use a strong bargaining power and in which labour sections? And what to do without this power? How to transfer the conflict from the workplace into society and how to link social and economical struggles? What is the relationship between selforganisation inside the factories and support from outside, for example through blockades and campaigns? How to strike in transnational companies, which exploit borders playing one branch against each other? How to get organised along and against the global exploitation chains? Is the blockade of a highway, for example by the students, automatically a strike? Or only if it is done by truckers or together with them? What is the relationship with and the role of the unions? How to challenge the new government of mobility and regionalization of welfare which exploit the hierarchies built upon the borders ? What does it means to organize a labour force where migrants and locals are put one against the other by institutional racism? How can we make our differences our strenght? Would it help to develop common transnational demands such as a European minimum wage and a European basic income and welfare?
We want to tackle (at least a first part of) these questions on the basis of real practical experiences of labour struggle and labour activism in the age of precarity. We know, that the national and regional conditions are manifold, that the exploitation regime is organized in a complex global way and that the precarious disconnections and the splitting hierarchies dominate the given realities. But we also know: if we want to challenge and overcome these realities, we need to get organized on a transnational level, we need direct exchange about practical experiences and we need to develop a common platform. Production is nowadays organized along transnational lines and plays on precarious, different, forms of labour. We need new tools for a transnational strike back!
We want to follow the discussion threads and questions which we opened up already in the international Blockupy conference in 2013 and which continued with new practical experiences in the Blockupy festival in November 2014, after the experiment of social strike in Italy. We will refer also to the debates at the Strike Meeting in Rome in mid February 2015, while we intend to invite for 19.3.15 also other workers and labour-activists from various countries.
Initiated/proposed by activists from Blockupy meets amazon and TIE (Transnational Information Exchange)
Proposed Agenda of the day (still under construction!)
10.00 - 11.30 Opening Plenary:
Building strength, organizing struggles. Social and transnational strike: what is
their potential? What kind of common platform?
12.00 - 14.00 Working groups:
-- Strawberries, textiles, electronics, logistics: acting and striking along and
against the global exploitation chain?
-- From the workplace into society and vice-versa: How to relate social and economical struggle? Different forms of strikes and support from outside, campaigns and blockades and when they help?
-- Migrant labour, migrant rights,migrant strikes: labour and the government of
mobility
-- Common demands as organizational tools: discussing European minimum wage, welfare
and income and freedom of movement
14.00 - 15.00 Closing Plenary:
Outcomes of the working groups, next common steps and structures towards a
transnational strike.
Registration:
Pls register in advance for this meeting by an Email to
We will inform about the location for this working meeting, and also about the preparation process latest a few days before 19.3..