Today's Topics:
1. Britain, glasgowanarchists: Glasgow Events from 14/01/2016 -
Happy New Year! (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. France, Alternative Libertaire AL - unionism, Goodyear: They
followed their conscience and heart (fr, it, pt) [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Black Rose Anarchist Federation - Burlington: ANOTHER DAY,
ANOTHER HATCHET JOB ON ANARCHISM (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. wsm.ie: Dublin protest in solidarity with 21 year old
Belfast woman charged for using abortion pills - 15 Jan 6pm, the
GPO by Andrew N Flood (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Greece, "Circle of Fire" of APO (Anarchist Political
Organization) Calling at a concentration of solidarity at 21
persecuted antifascists s / he on January 22 in the Three-Member
Criminal Court in Loukareos (gr) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. France, Alternative Libertaire AL #256 (Dec) - Elections to
the Post: The reformist unions are progressing (fr, it, pt)
[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
After a couple of weeks break we are back with another Autonomy Update. There’s a wide
veriety of events to pick from, so without further ado… ---- FAIL BETTER: Justify yer
art/anger/chips ---- Thursday, 14 January at 8:00pm ---- McChuills, 40 High Street, G1 1NL
---- You CAN['t] have your chips [the middle class ate them] and eat them too. Marvel at
the excitement on stage as you wonder whether any of our performers should have money to
live off, or should instead just fuck of back to London/Falkirk/Dumfries. [But don't be
angry. Whatever you don't be angry. Anger is useless don't you know and generates as much
carbon footprint as bouregousie conceptual art.] ---- Come see some art and argue about
whether it has a moral responsibility to you [or responsible morals]. [Or whether your
anger should be recognised. Or your class. Oh, and if your class matters. But class
doesn't exist anyway so that's ok.]
Come hear some songs in a space that believes in a Guaranteed basic income for all printed
on money actually made from the Queen’s skin [skin removed from the Queen's face].
ARTISTS WILL INCLUDE:
KEITH WARRICK
KEVIN ROBERTSON
KAREN VEITCH
MISS IRENIE ROSE
AS ever the night is free, but labour shouldn’t be. If you can afford it, chuck some money
in the bucket and buy the poets, musicians, film makers, and storytellers a bus home or a
drink or something. Let them eat chips. [And turn every argument about art/labour into a
Marxist reference. Which I don't get. Or want to. What was the French Revolution again?]
[Can you tell the organisers of this night disagree on the viewpoint and it was a race to
make the event page?]
**********
Community Gathering + Bonfire @ North Kelvin Meadow & the Children’s Wood
Saturday, 16 January at 10:00am – 10:00pm
North Kelvin Meadow, Sanda Street / Kelbourne Street / Clouston Street, G20 8PU
In anticipation of the council’s site visit on 26th January to determine the future of the
meadow and woods, we’re organising a large gathering on Saturday the 16th to bring the
community together in support of the space.
The Children’s Wood will be running the event from 10am until 2pm. Afterwords there will
be a bonfire starting around 3pm and continuing into the night.
During the day there will be big marquees set up and attractions include home baking from
the local community, tea and coffee and various workshops. Knit Wild will be running a
kniting workshop making items for yarn bombing the meadow on the day of the council site
visit, and there will also be a banner making workshop taking place. The usual outdoor
learning group will be running with outdoor play activities open to all children, and
there will also be storytelling happening, as well as a capoeira workshop.
In the evening there will be an open jam session around the fire – please bring along your
instruments if you play! There will be several tarpaulins around the fire area for rain
cover, and we also hope to provide hot drinks.
The children’s wood will be running a stall during the day providing campaign info and
adding people to the mailing list (the list will be around all evening too).
There’ll be folk around all day from morning until late: come along for half an hour or
the whole day – bring your children, parents, dogs, grannies, friends etc.
See you all on Saturday!
**********
The Arts and Precarity: Forging New Solidarities
Friday, January 22 at 7:00pm
Kinning Park Complex, 43 Cornwall Street, G411BA (opposite Kinning Park Underground)
Register here —
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-arts-and-precarity-forging-new-solidarities-tickets-18587497706
This event combines radical cabaret with a day of academic-artist-activist workshop
discussions.
Programmed in Glasgow’s Kinning Park Complex, an autonomous, resident-led social centre,
the event will bring together a transnational network of artist-activists and scholars to
discuss strategies for analysing and resisting precarious labour in a time of austerity.
The Arts and Precarity Cabaret, January 22 — 7 pm till 11pm
The Arts and Precarity cabaret will feature five artists exploring and resisting public
funding cuts, precarious work and labour inequalities through text, films, music and
performance.
The Arts and Precarity Workshop, January 23 — 10 am till 6:00 pm
The workshop groups will discuss precarious work across many fields, from freelancers in
the cultural sector to zero hours service and education workers, from undocumented
agricultural labourers to interns and volunteers.
Featuring:
Min Sook Lee (professor of fine arts and award-winning filmmaker of ‘El Contrato,’ a
documentary)
Harry Giles (performer, poet, and general doer of things — writer and performer of ‘All I
Want for Christmas is the Downfall of Globalised Late Capitalism’)
Richa Nagar (professor and author of ‘Muddying the Waters: Co-authoring Feminisms Across
Scholarship and Activism’)
Geraldine Pratt (professor and author of ‘Families Apart: Migrating Mothers and the
Conflicts of Labor and Love’)
Claire Askew (poet and award-winner of the inaugural International Salt Prize for Poetry)
They They Theys (poetry performance in English and BSL, melded with acoustic music and
live visuals. Exploring disability, Deaf culture, class, race, gender and sexuality.
Mostly mellow-ish, sometimes veering accidentally into punk)
Cachín Cachán Cachunga! (intersectional queer & trans arts company established in
Edinburgh in 2009)
Caleb Johnston (lecturer in Human Geography and co-author of ‘Theatre, Politics and
Transnational Justice’)
Fran Higson (filmmaker of ‘United We Will Swim….Again,’ The extraordinary story of a
community fighting to save their local swimming pool)
Free vegan and vegetarian lunch catered by Soul Food Sisters social enterprise.
(BSL interpretation provided. The building is wheelchair-accessible by ramp. There are
heavy double doors so please get in touch if you want assistance upon arrival. There is a
level-access wide/large cubicle in one of the toilets, but no fully-accessible or
stand-alone single accessible toilet. All toilets are gender-neutral.)
For more info contact: creativesolidarities
**********
Introduction to Green Woodworking
Saturday, January 23 at 10:00am – 4:00pm
Green Aspirations Scotland, Tir Na nog, Balfunning, Balfron Station, G63 0NF
On this one day course you will learn about the relaxing craft of green woodworking.
Working with sustainable timber you will produce everyday items to take home and cherish.
During the day we will transform logs into useful wooden items. Starting by selecting
timber, sawing and cleaving logs we will see how to make the most of the trees we use. You
will then be shown a range of hand tools and how to use them to make a mallet or spatula.
You will also be shown how to use the basic equipment for green woodwork, the pole lathe
and shave horse.
Please, complete your booking form here: http://goo.gl/forms/vUQvAFVB5X
Reviews:
‘An inspirational course from Green Aspirations. I’ve totally caught the green woodworking
bug after just a few hours in the woods with Paul and Louise. Paul gives excellent clear
instruction from an obviously huge depth of knowledge, with emphasis on safety, practical
experience and having fun. Really opened my eyes to possibilities of ‘green wood’ and left
me hungry for more…’
‘I’m totally sold on your ethos and what you are doing here and I love the way you present
it, in such an open and approachable way with no judgement.’
**********
WestGAP fundraiser: THE OPPRESSED with JOCK SPARRA and Random Scandal plus supports
Saturday, January 23 at 6:00pm – 3:00am
Stereo Cafe Bar, 20 – 28 Renfield Lane, G2 6PH
Tickets available in person at the WestGAP office Tuesdays and Fridays Also from tickets
Scotland plus booking fee or via New Hellfire Club Glasgow with no booking fee. Get in
there quickly folks don’t leave it till the last minute.
£15 waged £13 unwaged or WestGAP member.
WestGAP Fundraiser featuring
The Oppressed From Cardiff
Jock Sparra From Livingston
Random Scandal
The Fore Cups – An Ayrshire/Glasgow band usually known by another name but it involves a
sweary word so changed to its rhyming pseudonym, so as not to offend ;-)
Aftershow party from 10.30pm till late with DJ set from Miss Laura Elite and the Mixed Up
Vinyl Club spinning the best street sounds.
WestGAP is an anti-poverty community group run by and for people in Glasgow who have first
hand experience of living in poverty. Since 1997 we’ve been providing a free, independent
and confidential advice service focusing on welfare rights, as well as providing support
with housing problems, fuel poverty, homelessness and a broad range of other issues. We
are totally independent, are not funded by government, and are not part of any political
party or organisation. Our service is open to all and completely free.
WestGAP is run entirely by volunteers, and we depend on donations to keep our doors open.
At a time when the rights of the most vulnerable residents of our city are being eroded,
it’s essential that community advice services continue to exist, to support claimants in
defending themselves against ill-considered policies and unfair decisions. All proceeds
from this show will go directly to WestGAP, and will support the organisation’s basic
running costs: rent, utilities, photocopying, stamps.
You can also become a member via the website, and get the tickets cheaper:-)
http://westgap.co.uk/
**********
Muyassar Kurdi European Tour Performances and Workshops
Sunday, January 24 at 5:00pm
Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre, Trongate 103, G1 5HD
“Chicago resident Muyassar Kurdi is the final act, delivering a Dadaistic performance that
falls between musical absurdity and autistic choreography. Completely concentrated upon
her bizarre ritual, the singer – dressed in black – emits tortured vocalisations and cries
worthy of Yoko Ono in full flight, all of it juggling with electronic effects and white
noise. It’s incredibly in-your-face and perturbing but makes you smile too: the sheer
pleasure of making a racket…” L ’ Alsace (France) –French to English translation
Muyassar Kurdi is a musician, performance artist, dancer, filmmaker and educator from
Chicago, Illinois.
In performance, she explores the relationship between abstract sound and meta-primordial
movement, obliquely confronting ideas of masculine subjugation by re-appropriating and
then distorting hegemonically sexualised figurative motion and juxtaposing it with random,
abrasive and jarring acoustic and electronic sound components along with wordless
vocalizations.
Kurdi’s engaging, lively workshops are focused on movement, voice and theatrical
techniques with an emphasis on freedom of movement, spontaneity, meditative improvisation
and the relationship between body and voice. She encourages participants to free their
voices with wordless song and phonemes and builds interdependence between sound and
movement through exercises built on trust, listening and slow, concentrated,
‘soul’-generated theatrics.
http://muyassarkurdi.com/
**********
Compulsory Monogamy and Social Control
Tuesday, January 26 at 6:45pm – 9:00pm
Fred Paton Centre, 19 Carrington Street, G4 9AJ
This talk explores how compulsory monogamy became a social institution, drawing on the
history of law, religion, and biology. It will argue that monogamy was something forced on
women, while men, for the most part, remained free from its confines. It will also
describe the role compulsory monogamy has played in shaping and defining heteronormative
relationships (where heterosexuality and fixed genders are taken as the norm).
Whereas heterosexuality binds women to men in general, monogamy binds women to specific
men. In the same way that heterosexuality is used to set apart ‘good women’ from
‘perverse’ ones, monogamy serves to define all women who transgress its boundaries as
loose. Thus, in the same ways in which compulsory heterosexuality results in the
dependency of women on men – physically, economically and emotionally – compulsory
monogamy makes women dependent on specific men.
The talk will then think about polyamory* as a non-monogamous alternative from a queer and
feminist perspective, and consider how it challenges the heteronormative discourse on
relationships. Polyamory offers more than just the possibility of participating in
multiple relationships, but also the potential for a new way to understand and think about
relationships.
*Polyamory is a philosophy and lifestyle based around the forming and sustaining of
relationships with multiple partners in an open, honest and non-possessive way.
=====
This event is hosted by Glasgow AF. We ask that all those attending this event read the
brief introduction to our safer spaces policy here: https://afed.org.uk/about/safer-spaces/
**********
HOWLING SPOON PERFORMANCE K!TCHEN
Sunday, January 31 at 7:00pm
Kinning Park Complex, 43 Cornwall Street, G411BA (opposite Kinning Park Underground)
Howling Spoon is an international revolt of conscious-cutlery. We howl for every spoon who
cannot howl for themselves. We have risen from our drawers to become cooks, activists,
performance-makers, painters, sculptors, curators, collage-makers, poets, playwrights, and
friends. As broth burps bubbles above a flame, we practice art and activism with a
chaotic surface, pitting joy against power.
And now we invite you to eat and play with us, to join our kindly nuisance…
At Howling Spoon Performance K!tchen, you will be fed a delicious pay-what-you-can vegan
meal prepared using surplus produce from Glasgow’s greengrocers, whilst surrounded by a
laboratory of gurgling new live art, song, theatre, and poetry. You will meet the howling
spoons, shake ladles with them, and, we hope, perhaps begin to howl yourselves.
Guest performers to be announced very s(p)o0OO0o0o0oon…
If you think you might be a spoon, then you are a spoon. Join the uprising by messaging
howlingspoon
https://howlingspoon.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/howlingspoons
S P O O N S O F T H E W O R L D U N I T E!
**********
Ditching the Fear (film screening)
Saturday, 6 February (time TBA)
CCA, 350 Sauchiehall St, G2 3JD
The 70 minute film is a brand new documentary (with English subtitles) about logistic
workers’ struggles in Italy. It portrays the struggle of mainly migrant workers against
the harsh labour regime of companies like TNT or IKEA. These struggles emerged in 2008 and
have since then, not only won better conditions, but also put workers’ self-organisation
back on the wider political agenda. Workers’ militants of the rank-and-file union Si Cobas
talk about blockades of logistic hubs and their alliances with activists from the social
centres.
**********
RADICAL SPORTS & OUTDOORS SECTION
**********
City Bike Tour
Wednesday, January 27 at 12 PM – 3 PM
Glasgow Bike Station, 65 Haugh Road, G3 8TX
Want to explore Glasgow by bike? Join us on a cultural extravaganza!
Your tour guides Charlotte & Caroline will take you on a cycle across the city taking in a
variety of notable hot-spots including; parks, art galleries, museums, markets, pubs and
clubs.
Meeting at Glasgow Bike Station for a 12pm start, come along early to pump your tyres and
lube your chain! Bikes available to borrow if you don’t have your own.
Easy going pace, suitable for all abilities.
**********
Critical Mass
Friday, 29th of January at 05:30pm meet, 6:00pm start
George Square
Meet at the column for a gentle paced cycle around town.
**********
Glasgow Roller Derby vs Vagine Regime UK – Double Header!
Saturday, January 30 at 12:30pm – 5:00pm
Lagoon Leisure Centre, 11 Christie Street, Paisley, PA1 1NB
Exciting double header season opener! Following up on our fab successful season opener in
2015, we’re doing the same again, only BIGGER!!!
Glasgow’s A and B teams vs the Vagine Regime UK A and B teams at the Lagoon Centre, Paisley!
We’re super excited to play at this new venue and we hope you’ll all love it too! we have
TIERED seating, which is just great for getting a better view of the action!
The Glasgow Roller Derby vs Vagine Regime game last year was one of our biggest games and
this year is going to be even bigger and better! Two excellent quality games back to back
at a new venue: bigger, better lit, and with tiered seating so you don’t miss any of the
action.
Online ticket £6.50 (includes booking fee)
On the door £8
VIP ticket £10 (including fee! – This entitles you to reserved seating, afterparty entry
and a super-special goodie bag)
Afterparty only £3 on the door
And if that wasn’t enough, it’s followed by Queeriosity! our Drag after party at
Garnethill Multicultural Centre (21 Rose Street, Garnethill, Glasgow G3 6RE).
More details on the party can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/156611594708195/
We really look forward to seeing you all (and your friends!) on the 30th!
**TRAVEL INFO**
The trains run direct from Glasgow Central to Paisley Gilmour Street and take around 10
minutes; they are most often the Ayr and Gourock trains. From the train station it’s a 5
minute walk.
Both McGills and First Bus run from Glasgow city centre and west end to Paisley town
centre. The most common ones are McGills 17 and 38 or First Bus 9.
More information can be found here: www.firstgroup.com/greater-glasgow and
www.mcgillsbuses.co.uk
The Lagoon has a dedicated car park but there is also on street parking which is free at
weekends.
If you are flying Glasgow Airport then it is less than a 10 minute journey via taxi but
buses are also available. If it’s Glasgow Prestwick Airport, the trains are also multiple
per hour direct to Paisley and usually you get a discounted rate ticket too. (Also if
you’re coming up to Glasgow you can get the ticket to Glasgow and just jump off and back
on at Paisley)
**********
United Glasgow
The club operates under dual core principles of anti-discrimination and financial inclusion.
www.unitedglasgowfc.eu
www.clubwebsite.co.uk/unitedglasgowfc
https://www.facebook.com/groups/131129416972636/?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/groups/764904386887499/?fref=ts
Women (trans* inclusive)
5-a-side Drop-In – Monday Nights (Firhill Complex, Hopehill Road) – 7.30pm-8.30pm
11-a-side Training – Wednesday Nights (Firhill Complex, Hopehill Road) – 9pm-10.30pm
Contact the Club for men’s training times.
**********
Email future events including name/time/date/location/description to:
glasgowautonomyupdates@lists.riseup.net
If you know someone who would like to be added to this list then please direct them to:
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The Autonomy Update is brought to you by Glasgow Anarchist Federation. Visit our blog at:
http://glasgow.afed.org.uk
https://glasgowanarchists.wordpress.com/2016/01/12/glasgow-events-from-14012016/
------------------------------
Message: 2
"The baton and the bar will slow their response to the collapse of an unjust system that
falters under the weight of its own emptiness. For us to survive and, quickly, bring about
the dawn." ---- Today in France, one goes to jail for defending his work. A French court
ruled thus: eight former employees of Goodyear will suffer from nine months in prison and
15 months in prison, suspended for thirty hours sequestration without physical harm of two
members of their management. ---- We will take these eight men and lock them in a cell -
for weeks, we will deprive them of freedom and send a clear message to other workers:
those who resist station to keep their jobs or dignity! A good worker, says the French
judiciary, is a sheep, a creature that looks down and her arms, who accepts his fate
without flinching and can therefore fired or mistreated casually.
Violence is the work world center
A lawyer who approves the verdict, described the trial as a sign "that violence has no
place in the world of work". [1] It was all wrong. Violence is at the center of the world
work, it is everywhere, from the most basic human exchanges to large boards where plays
the lives of thousands of individuals. Work is violence: violence of the hierarchy, the
repetitiveness of violence, violence dividends and large salaries, relocations and
violence efforts in the fear of flying jobs; Violence therefore a system built on the idea
that profit should reign supreme on human relations and should make it all the sacrifices.
Only this violence will never put on trial and its instigators - the bosses, CEOs, major
shareholders, managers - will never be disturbed by the courts. We should even admire them
and consider their work as a summit of Western civilization ... Those who benefit from the
work of others who would be nothing without the hundreds of hands at their service, are
regarded by politicians as messiahs: away from their slap on the wrist, one makes them
presents very strong hope that they will reduce unemployment which nevertheless strong
suits them well.
Their violence, that of the easy life, the ease and especially the power to destroy,
signature, the fate of other human beings, then this violence is protected, maintained,
perfected by the state and the system Economic generally.
Demonstration on February 12, 2013 in Rueil. Photo Report cc Marie-Au Krasnyi
Blocking, occupation, sequestration, reappropriation of machinery and equipment
That the eight Amiens-Nord have done is show them that violence towards a plant closure
that puts 1.173 employees on the floor is as concrete as that of staying locked in a room
for thirty hours with a handful of trade unionists. And what sequestration! It was just an
appetizer, a small sample.
A woman or a man who loses his job is a paycheck that disappears, it's perhaps a family
thrown into the throes of financial instability, perhaps in poverty. This violence
deprives the human being his livelihood and ordered him to get by in a world where
unemployment is rampant, where industries are collapsing and where workers of a certain
age have fled like the plague by DRH. These are whole days of suffering, anguish and
humiliation.
They should have, the eight of Amiens and all comrades, accepting their salaries reduced
and their working conditions deteriorate? Should they have to bow to blackmail a company
that, in 2014, the year of the alleged acts, recorded a net profit of 2.45 billion? No,
they followed their conscience and heart.
When facing a coalition of interests as powerful and a philosophy in which the human
capital is a value we put in columns and that strikes out, a pencil stroke, violence is
sometimes legitimate. The strike is not always enough and blocking, occupation,
sequestration, the recovery of machinery and equipment often become a necessity.
"The smell of burnt tires" Back on the struggles of the workers and workers of Goodyear,
Dunlop and Continental
A night darker
We hope, for the good of our comrades that convictions will be overturned on appeal or, at
minimum, fitted. But this good news would somehow spoiled by the fate of all those
languishing in cells, for one night or one hundred, for defending their right to live
honestly, against the violence of the rich or that of the State.
It seems that we have in the coming years, to sink us in a night darker. While the poor
are daily poorer and the rich richer every day, European governments choose the path of
order and criminalize any action that would oppose the status quo. The baton and the bar
will slow their response to the collapse of an unjust system that falters under the weight
of its own emptiness. For us to survive and, quickly, bring about the dawn.
Today is a little light we turn on for eight Amiens-Nord: we have not forgotten you and we
support you in spirit. Tomorrow, perhaps, we will be in your place.
Julien Clamence (AL Brussels)
[1] Le Monde, January 12, 2016
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Goodyear-Ils-ont-suivi-leur
------------------------------
Message: 3
Is it just me, or has the quality of critiques of anarchism been getting worse lately?
---- Barnard Professor Sheri Berman’s contribution to Dissent’s Fall 2015 issue (“No
Cheers for Anarchism”) makes it clear she holds anarchism — and anarchists — in contempt.
I looked for, but sadly could not find, a well-argued reason why. Her essay is plagued by
the kind of scattershot superficial analysis, innuendo, and guilt-by-association better
suited to a publication like the Weekly Standard than such a storied journal of the left.
---- Berman’s trouble begins when she asserts a fundamental similarity between anarchists
and libertarians: ---- Anarchists dream of a world without states, traditional political
organizations, or any other structures that restrict individual freedom. Because they
share such beliefs and goals with libertarians, anarchists are easily confused with them.
In the American context, at least, the main distinction between the two concerns
capitalism: anarchists view it as inherently coercive, while libertarians venerate it as
the embodiment and guardian of individual rights. This has led the former to be viewed as
left wing and the latter as right wing, but in reality, anarchists differ dramatically
from other sectors of the modern left (just as libertarians differ dramatically from
traditional conservatives and other factions of the modern right).
While it’s true that American libertarians essentially stole their appellation from us
(“libertarian” at least in Europe still largely means anarchist), they sadly did not deign
to import any of our ideas. Anarchist analysis is fundamentally social and structural, and
is the common thread that links our opposition to capitalism and the state, our resistance
to all forms of oppression and domination, and our proposal of common ownership of wealth
and production through direct democracy. Libertarians, on the other hand, construct their
world starting with the atomized individual, resting on a foundation of modern property
rights: it is a thoroughly reactionary ideology.
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century anarchism’s rejection of
traditional political organizations and activity led to its involvement in various
uprisings and rebellions, the most important of which was the Paris Commune.
It is strange to see Berman assert that anarchists during that time rejected “traditional
political organizations and activity.” I can only assume she means electoral and party
politics, which given the time period were anything but traditional. Indeed, Europe has a
much longer history of strikes, revolts, and revolutions than of parliaments. Modern
European political parties only kicked off in earnest post-1848 while universal suffrage
took even longer. And while she claims anarchism is a very different animal from its
brethren on the left, anarchists made up a significant portion of the First International,
and have joined arms with their fellow socialists in barricades, picket lines, and
revolutions ever since.
Odder still, considering how few actual anarchists were there, is Berman’s implication
that the Paris Commune was an “anarchist activity”:
Despite their often spectacular nature, anarchist activities were almost uniformly
unsuccessful. For example, the Paris Commune’s lack of internal organization, leadership,
or agreed-upon goals left it prone to infighting and vulnerable to counter-attack; it was
brutally crushed by the forces of counter-revolution.
Given that both Marxists and anarchists spoke highly of the Commune, one suspects there is
more to it than Berman lets on. While she pins the blame on a “lack of internal
organization, leadership, or agreed-upon goals,” one of the anarchist critiques of the
Commune is that while there was plenty of internal organization, it was hobbled by its
centralized and bureaucratic nature. As Kropotkin put it:
But in 1871 the people of Paris, which had overthrown so many governments, was only
involved in its first attempt at revolt against the governmental system itself: it
submitted to governmental fetichism and gave itself a government. We know the consequence.
It sent its devoted sons to the Hotel-de-Ville. Indeed, immobilised there by fetters of
red tape, forced to discuss when action was needed, and losing the sensitivity that comes
from continued contact with the masses, they saw themselves reduced to impotence.
Paralysed by their distancing from the revolutionary centre — the people — they themselves
paralysed the popular initiative.
Berman then claims that the fin-de-siecle left abandoned anarchism for political parties
and trade unions, neglecting to mention that a large majority of anarchists at that time
were already moving into the labor movement. While many socialist parties at the time saw
trade unions as little more than party recruiting grounds and vehicles for turf wars with
other socialists, anarchists placed labor struggles at the heart of revolutionary strategy
(exemplified by the prominent rise of anarcho-syndicalism across Europe and Latin America).
Berman correctly notes that after World War I “socialists played a significant role” in
governments across Europe:
During the interwar period socialist parties became the bulwarks of democracy in many
parts of Europe. Defending democracy meant that socialists needed to win elections and
attract the support of the majority, which would in turn require compromises, trade-offs
and patience—none of which appealed to anarchists.
While socialists in power were quite successful at breaking strikes and attacking popular
movements on their left, they failed at what was possibly their most important task:
heading off the rise of nationalism and fascism. The world paid dearly for that failure.
In Spain it was the election of a social democrat-led coalition, not anarchist agitation
(as Berman alleges), that spurred Franco’s coup. Were it not for the immediate actions
taken by the UGT and anarchist-led CNT trade unions to arm and mobilize the population,
against a backdrop of paralysis on the part of the government, Franco’s victory likely
would have been nearly instantaneous.
Similarly, Berman’s analysis of the 1960s is painfully incomplete. Claiming the post-1945
social democratic order “undergirded an unprecedented period of consolidated democracy,
economic growth, and social stability in Europe and the West,” she neglects to mention the
mountains of stolen resources and millions of bodies across Asia and Africa on which that
order depended. Nor does she mention that the anti-colonial, anti-imperialist project was
central to the radical left of the 1960s, simply stating that “many anarchist-influenced
‘New Left’ and counter-culture movements (including punk and the Yippies in the United
States, and squatters movements in many European cities) attack[ed] the reigning
‘bourgeois, capitalist’ order.” The only time Berman bothers to reach outside the comforts
of the West is for a few bogeymen:
Some praised the likes of Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong, and Fidel Castro—hardly icons of
freedom—and showed scorn for public opinion and for the “masses” who didn’t share their
vision of the world.
Trying to hang those three around anarchism’s neck — none of whom were remotely anarchist,
and in the case of Castro, actively jailed and murdered Cuban anarchists? The mind boggles.
In the post-Cold War era, anarchism has emerged as arguably the most energetic current on
the left in the U.S. Berman dismisses Occupy Wall Street as a flash in the pan, little
more than “theatrics” with “ephemeral impact.” While neither OWS nor the many successful
campaigns and movements it birthed were majority anarchist, their tools, sensibilities and
outlook drew heavily from that tradition. And too many progressives forget that over the
course of a few months, OWS dramatically changed the bounds of mainstream economic and
political debate (remember the summer preceding it, when matters of wealth inequality and
Wall Street were permanently sidelined to debt ceilings and austerity packages?). That’s
something for which the Elizabeth Warrens and Bernie Sanderses of the world should thank
their friendly neighborhood anarchist.
Berman reaches peak superficiality as she concludes her essay by way of former congressman
Barney Frank, a man whose blinkered conception of social change can only be measured in
angry letters and phone calls to the Capitol switchboard:
In his recent book, Barney Frank, for example, contrasted the National Rifle Association’s
persistent grassroots organizing and resultant ability to mobilize supporters to flood
lawmakers’ offices with letters and calls and to vote as a bloc, with the inclination of
many on the left to “hold public demonstrations, in which like-minded people gather to
reassure each other of their beliefs.” Frank goes on to argue that “if you care deeply
about an issue and are engaged in group activity on its behalf that is fun and inspiring
and heightens your sense of solidarity with others . . . you are most certainly not doing
your cause any good.”
There’s quite a bit of confusion here, not least of which is the implication that social
movements (let alone anarchist-inspired ones) desire the same scope and scale of change
that the NRA does. I for one am glad that so many movements reject the Berman-Frank model
of social change. From immigrant rights (in both the Americas and Europe) to service
sector unionization, from campaigns against fossil fuel projects to the 2012 Québec
student strike, anarchists are at the forefront and in the trenches, helping shape
analysis and strategy. Instead of petitioning their elected officials, they are doing what
every successful movement has done: changing the reality on the ground so starkly and
fundamentally that political and economic elites are forced to accommodate.
Ultimately, the shadow that hangs over Berman’s entire essay is cast not by anarchism, but
by the colossal wreckage of social democracy.
Berman approvingly quotes François Mitterand’s denunciation of Paris protesters in May
1968: “what a mish-mash of quasi-Marxism, what hotch-potch, what confusion.” While she
contents to caricature one of the most important events of the twentieth century, the
quote much more accurately describes Mitterand’s own panicked and confused descent into
austerity when faced with all the terrible demands of capital but none of the workers and
youth on the streets to force him to live up to his socialist promises.
For decades now, social democratic parties across the West have taken up the mantle of
hatchet men for the interests of capital. It is austerity imposed by the “left” that cuts
deepest and is hardest to oppose. This slow self-immolation by socialist parties,
stretching from London to Athens and Paris to Berlin, reminds us that we can’t administer
our way out of the horrors of capitalism. While those on the electoral left — the true
starry-eyed utopians — propose yet another round of minor fixes to capitalism’s
foundational deformities, anarchists and our allies will keep fighting for and building a
liberated world, one that needs neither capitalists nor their reluctant stewards.
Cross-posted from ForStudentPower.org
http://www.blackrosefed.org/another-day-another-hatchet-job-on-anarchism/
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Message: 4
A 21 year old women in Co Down has been charged with 'using a poison to procure her own
abortion', that is using the Mifepristone and Misoprostol pills which are legal across
most of the EU but illegal in Ireland, north and south. Under the 1861 act in the north
she faces life in prison if convicted, in the south under the legislation recently
introduced by the Labour Party and Fine Gael she would face 14 years in prison. ---- As
the use of these pills represents the only safe way to obtain an abortion south of the
border its estimated that hundreds if not thousands break this law every year in order to
avoid being forced through an unwanted pregnancy. The pills should be taken under medical
supervision but doctors who provided such supervision would face the same jail sentences
so instead they are sourced via online services like Women Help Women and Women on Web.
North and south of the border several people have publicly declared they have either taken
the pills or supplied them to others. In July this year some 215 signatories of a letter
saying they had done this turned up at police stations in the north but none were charged.
The Abortion Rights Campaign has called a rally for this Friday at 6pm at the GPO in
Dublin to stand "in solidarity with Alliance for Choice and the 21 year old woman facing
prosecution in the North of Ireland."
ARC say "We condemn the arrest and prosecution of a 21 year old woman in County Down who
has been accused of using poison to procure abortion. Both Mifepristone and Misoprostol
are on the World Health Organization’s list of essential drugs; these drugs are not
poison. These are the same drugs used for medical abortions in the rest of the UK. If this
woman lived in England instead of Northern Ireland she would have been prescribed this
medication on the NHS. Mifepristone and Misoprostol are also routinely used for
miscarriage management. We are organizing a solidarity protest at the GPO at 6pm this
coming Friday to coincide with the protest in Belfast by Alliance for Choice."
http://www.wsm.ie/c/dublin-protest-solidarity-belfast-woman-abortion-pills-15jan2016
------------------------------
Message: 5
On September 30, 2012 takes place in neighborhoods of Athens antifascist motoporeia center
which is hit by the repressive forces. - Fifteen antifascists and antifascist caught in
the area and then tortured in the police headquarters. - Six more anti-fascists would
later accused in the same proceedings. - The motoporeia is part of a large series of
anti-fascist demonstrations which in the context of the broader anti-fascist and anarchist
struggle attempted and succeeded in halting the spread of Nazi Golden Dawn, to highlight
the social state contribution to the establishment of the modern fascist para-state and to
awaken consciousness about the necessity of political and social self-defense against the
state and para-state mechanisms.
In particular, the motoporeia of September 30 with massive participation was moved to the
square American region where in recent days held fascist pogroms against migrants from a
few dozen neo-Nazis under the cover of Police Some of them move against motoporeias,
repulsed and followed widespread repressive enterprise using batons, stun grenades and
tear gas. Those arrested are driven to police headquarters where tortured for hours, with
the then Minister Rep. Order N. Dendias support public so the dissolution of the course
and torture that followed.
DELTA team attack to dissolve the demonstration of power and torture at police
headquarters were exemplary. They were designed to break the resistance against both the
fascists as opposite and their state patrons. The promotion of modern totalitarianism of
the state and capital, the attack on social and class weak to their full allegiance and
the uprooting of the resistance is the general framework that mobilizes state and
para-state mechanisms behind democratic facades not hide despite the brutality.
The brutality of a regime that spreads misery and war to manage on their results with
concentration camps and the establishment of the State of Emergency. He utilizes the
fascist gangs to hit those who fight and intimidate those who have every reason to resist.
For maintaining regardless of political administrators in the same direction: The creation
of a society-galley.
Against this regime are oppressed and the exploited are the only way that the
self-organization and solidarity. Social self-defense class and creating mutual
structures. Subversion of state and capitalist barbarism to build the libertarian and
classless society of Anarchy and Communism. In this way one is not alone ...
SOLIDARITY AT 21 DIOKOMENOUS ANTIFASISTES AND ANTIFASISTRIES
AGAINST MODERN TOTALITARIANISM
SOCIAL - CLASS self-organization KI MATCH
Anarchist collectivity "Circle of Fire" -
member of the APO (Anarchist Political Organization - Federation collectives)
------------------------------
Message: 6
Elections to the Board of Directors of La Poste were marked by a drop in participation and
improvement of co-managers scores unions. But SUD-PTT is also growing and militant teams
rather on the rise. What do not despair! ---- Last week took place the elections to the
Board of Directors of La Poste Group. This election involves both the parent company and a
large number of company subsidiaries. It was the first time all wage earners concerned
voted electronically, a decision not without consequences for the vote. ---- If electronic
voting is not the whole, the way it was organized in the company has had a negative impact
particularly on forbearance. Indeed, with just over 63% participation, this is the worst
rate ever achieved in the company. In subsidiaries, abstention even reached almost 95%!
Coupled with a white voting rate of almost 10% at La Poste parent average and slightly
more among managers, more than 20% in subsidiaries, maybe this is what is instructive more
than results. The CGT announced in its press release that this represents a distrust of La
Poste policy.
Abstention dimension
If this remark is probably accurate for framing, it more generally gum any critical
analysis of the fall of 6% compared to the 2010 election and a decline as compared to last
year: the analysis of abstention is simplistic or even false, but is most likely to have
an impact on future inter-union relations and on wage earners. There can see a real risk
of sectarian withdrawal of the CGT.
We can explain this drop in participation and blank votes by several elements:
- A chaotic setting up voting by management of the company, doing no work at certain
subsidiaries which explains the 94% abstention in some places.
- There are at least a confusion and at worst a real distrust on the part of some postal
workers and the union to postières tool as a way to bring victories and advances to staff
and this in a difficult social context.
- The feeling of wage earners subsidiaries not to be part of the La Poste group and to be
left at the edge of the road by both management and the unions. A feeling due to a real
lack of work of all trade unions on the whole group.
Room for the struggle unionism
The results might not bode well with growth of accompanying or co-management unions. This
finding is all the more maddening that in many places the CGT sometimes collapses of over
10% is often in favor of the CFDT and FO. SOUTH side by cons, no plummeted and even an
increase of almost 1% since last year.
A final observation: where there are structured teams and what's more combative, the
results are quite good. This leaves room for widely unionism of struggle and social
transformation to La Poste.
Germinal (AL Orléans)
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Elections-a-La-Poste-Les-syndicats
