Today's Topics:
1. Britain, Class War, Victory to the Deliveroo strike!
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. solfed.org.uk: Brighton SolFed opens a dispute against
Leaders letting agency (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. awsm.nz: The Olympics: a reflection of society under
capitalism (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. France, Alternative Libertaire AL n° special - Organized
mayhem: Make or break? (fr, it, pt) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
**Breaking News** — VICTORY TO THE DELIVEROO STRIKE — ---- The delegation of drivers have
just exited the Deliveroo head office, having finished negotiations with Management. They
agreed to the following: ---- – No victimisation ---- – No new contract ---- – Even if
drivers have signed the new contract already, it no longer has effect and you are not
bound to it ---- – This will be a trial until 14th September when Deliveroo will meet
again with workers to assess the month’s pay ---- – If you don’t want to be on the trial,
you WILL have to move zone, but you will be able to move to any zone of YOUR choice and be
guaranteed the same hours you are currently on.
More info soon!
http://www.classwarparty.org.uk/victory-deliveroo-strike/
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Message: 2
Brighton SolFed has started a dispute against the Western road branch of the letting
agency Leaders. The agency facilitated an eviction attempt against a tenant that failed
after a court hearing. SolFed has been trying to find a settlement for the dispute the
last couple of weeks. Along with SolFed, the tenant is fighting for compensation for loss
of earnings and damage to her health. ---- The failed eviction process caused the tenant
months of instability whilst she was suffering from a serious illness. While the tenant
was a few weeks late with rent because of illness, she had informed the agency that this
would be the case, and was told that it would be ‘no problem’. At this point, the tenant
had already been at the property for a year, and paid rent in six-monthly instalments.
Just two weeks after being told it would be 'OK', and with no warning from Leaders, the
tenant was issued with an eviction notice by the landlord. The tenant then settled her
arrears and paid five months advance rent, a contract renewal fee, and a voluntary
indemnity of £300. The tenant had thus paid to stay in the property until at least late
June 2016, which should have meant that eviction could not be pursued during that time.
However, it was: the tenant received news in early March that she had two weeks to move
out. To add insult to injury, Leaders informed her that they would not be refunding the
thousands of pounds of rent she had paid until an unspecified date after the moving out
process was complete.
The tenant felt that it was wrong for the landlord (with Leaders’ backing) to be
attempting to evict her half way through a tenancy she had paid up front for, particularly
given its mitigating circumstances – that by this point, she was scheduled for a major
operation. To the ongoing detriment of her health, the tenant had to cancel this
operation, because the insecurity around her housing situation meant that she was not
confident she would have somewhere stable to recuperate. The stress of the court
proceedings that the tenant had to go through in order to defend her right to stay only
made things worse. Ultimately, the judge who heard the case intimated that eviction
proceedings were invalid whilst the tenancy was ongoing, and the landlord dropped the
eviction order as a result.
It is as a direct consequence of this situation that the tenant’s health situation today
has declined to the point where she requires a more serious procedure than the one
scheduled in March. It was a series of miscommunications by Leaders that led to this
failed eviction process, which caused five months of intense stress for the tenant,
negatively affecting both her health and her capacity to work.
Along with the tenant, we issued a letter to Leaders, outlining the tenant's grievance
with their handling of this situation, and setting out a series of options for
compensation for loss of earnings and damage to her health. After one week, Leaders
declined to offer the tenant any compensation. Subsequently, we have begun a public
campaign about this situation, beginning with a picket last Thursday 11th and Saturday
13th of August.
The response from the general public has been both sympathetic and positive. We have been
talking publicly about the issues not only that are specific to this situation, but also
that underline it and which affect most people, such as the need for six month advanced
rent payment if a guarantor cannot be provided when earnings are not deemed high enough,
the added expense of agency administration fees, the short length of tenancies, the high
cost of rent, and the power that letting agents exercise over tenants.
The problem for the agency is that SolFed does not hide disputes in administrative or
judicial procedures. Our intention is to bring every dispute onto the streets. Not just
because it is faster, cheaper and more effective, but also because it is the only way we
can understand that each of us has the same problems. Through solidarity and direct
action, ordinary people have the power to improve their lives - and ultimately create a
new society.
Stay in touch for news of further action, and boycott Leaders if you are currently in need
of an agency. If you are also having trouble with Leaders at the moment, we'd like to hear
from you - we're stronger when we fight together. You can get in touch at
housing@brightonsolfed.org.uk.
An injury to one is an injury to all!
http://www.solfed.org.uk/brighton/brighton-solfed-opens-a-dispute-against-leaders-letting-agency
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Message: 3
The Olympic games are here again and while it’s sold to us a demonstration of peace and
solidarity and the finest humans have to offer, it is often anything but that. In fact, in
many ways, it is a reflection of the very worst of society under capitalism. ---- The
modern Olympics were established with the highest ideals, and a desire to foster peace.
Instead they have become little more than a display of nationalistic pride and flag waving
by nations who co-opt the efforts of the athletes to further their own schemes. From the
very first games this has been demonstrated when the 1896 games in Athens led to a surge
in Greek nationalism, and an eventual war with Turkey in 1897. ---- The rich countries of
the West also get the chance to reinforce their perceived superiority over the rest as the
Games are heavily weighted in their favour. From the very beginning the Games were set
up by European elites and built on western sports. Many non-western countries have long
histories of indigenous sports and games that were ignored and continue to be. In response
to this, Brazil saw the hosting of the first World Indigenous Games in 2015 where over
2,000 participating indigenous athletes from 30 countries, including 43 Maori athletes,
competed in a variety of sporting events. These ranged from a few Western-style
competitions (football, athletics) to many indigenous traditional games, such as
xikunahity, a football-style game in which the ball is controlled only with the head.
Added to the disadvantage for the poorer nations is that most athletes, if they are to be
successful on the global stage, require a fair amount of social and financial support for
training, facilities and travel. This means that better off countries usually do better.
For the Olympic games to be genuinely open and fair there would need to be vast
improvements in health care and education for participants from low-income nations.
Not only is the Olympics an excuse for chest-thumping, but it also represents the worst
kind of gross commercialisation and exploitation. The International Olympic Committee
(IOC) collects massive wealth from its product but, like all such multi-national corporate
institutions, the workers, in this case the athletes, get very little of the wealth they
generate, while the executives at the top reap huge rewards.
The IOC stands to earn more than ever from this year’s Olympics as they take their share
of the revenues, which are expected to be upwards of a record US$ 9billion. Although the
IOC states that they plough ninety per cent of revenues back into supporting athletes,
many say the crumbs that eventually fall from the top table are not enough. A recent study
showed that just 6 per cent of the money generated by the Olympics goes back to athletes
as salaries. The reality for the average US athlete is a salary of $16,533 according to
figures collected by The Washington Post. Those from many other countries receive less. In
2014 Canada found that the country’s elite athletes spent $13,900 per year more than they
earn, while in New Zealand, there are probably just five New Zealand athletes who could
make enough money from the sport to class themselves as professionals, according to
Athletics NZ Sport Manager Brett Addison, while other athletes don’t receive nearly enough
to live on.
The reality is that while the billions flooding in may make Rio 2016 the richest Olympics
ever, away from the elite athletes, who admittedly do well as they reap their rewards in
endorsements from companies desperate to be linked with their celebrity status, most of
the athletes will see almost none of the wealth they generate. At the top of the IOC chain
it is a different matter. The “volunteer” president, Thomas Bach, gets an annual
“allowance” of $251,000 and lives rent-free in a five-star hotel and spa in Switzerland,
which recently priced its cheapest suite at $1,068 per night. Other IOC members, a
distinguished group that includes various members of Europe’s royal houses, also enjoy
generous perks. When on IOC business, members fly first-class, stay in luxury hotels, and
also get cash for expenses at the rate of $450 per day for regular IOC members, and $900
per day for the IOC’s executive committee. These rates also apply to the Games themselves,
which means in Rio some IOC members will get paid more to watch the Olympics than many
athletes will get paid to compete in the Olympics.
In addition to the athletes being exploited the poor of Rio de Janeiro have also been
bearing the brunt of the games. Since Rio was chosen to host the Olympics at least 22,059
families, a total of 77,206 people, have been displaced due to the infrastructure projects
required for the Olympic games. These evictions have affected mostly Rio’s per such as
those living in Vila Autódromo, a favela that had been home to some 900 families, and was
almost entirely demolished to make room for Barra Olympic Park, a cluster of nine sporting
arenas where much of the action is taking place.
In return for their money given to the Olympic movement, the official sponsors get to
exclusively bombard the spectators with messages and images about their products. Of
course we won’t see images from official sponsors of those who make their products and
profits, like the highly exploited workers toiling in poor conditions at low pay to make
sports gear. Nor will Coca Cola and McDonalds sponsorship be questioned by those taking
their money, despite their products being of dubious nutritional value and a contributor
to the obesity epidemic affecting much of the world – the very antithesis of what the
Olympics is supposed to be about.
In fact the IOC’s official charter forbids the expression of anti-Olympic dissent, stating
in Rule 51, “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is
permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.” Yet the whole charade is based
around the promotion and reinforcement of values that suit capitalism. While we sit there
consuming sports such as the Olympics we are also taking in the assumptions that life is a
competition, that most of the rewards go to the winners, and that losers have only
themselves to blame in that they weren’t good enough, or never worked hard enough.
So what’s an anarchist to do during the Olympic spectacle? We could just ignore them,
which can actually cause some consternation among those who suddenly discover an appetite
for athletics and other sports once every four years; better still we could actively
oppose the Games, by writing articles like this one, circulating leaflets, holding
protests, and boycotting sponsors among other things.
Poster for the People’s Olympiad planned for Barcelona in 1936
Or, to show that we are not killjoys, maybe an even better option would be to support the
previously mentioned World Indigenous Games; or even promote our own alternative games,
and there is a precedent for this. In the 1920s and 1930s, there were a number “workers’
games” which avoided much of the nationalism of the Olympics. These included Workers’
Olympics in Frankfurt (1925), in Vienna (1931) and Antwerp (1937). There were also four
alternative Women’s Olympics held in Paris (1922), Gothenburg (1926), Prague (1930), and
London (1934). A People’s Olympiad was also planned for Barcelona in 1936 after the
decision by the Spanish republic to boycott the Berlin games as they correctly sensed they
would be a platform to the glorification of Nazism. Unfortunately these never went ahead
as the country was plunged into civil war shortly before they were due to start.
So here’s to the Anarchist Olympic games to be held in 2020. I’m not sure what events
there would be (that’s another discussion) but they would be a games that will surely
highlight mutual aid over competition, solidarity over nationalism, and equality over
crass commercialisation.
http://www.awsm.nz/2016/08/14/the-olympics-a-reflection-of-society-under-capitalism/
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Message: 4
police pressure, breakage, clashes ... With Valls-the-baton, the demonstrations have not
cushy! However, be careful not to be blinded by the romance of violence ... nor cretinism
of legality. ---- Swimming goggles, scarf, possibly helmet ... No harm people
rediscovered, in spring 2016, the basic equipment of the anti-globalization protester
early 2000. With this new feature in the lead parades invariably a motley crowd , halfway
black bloc and the carnival, dotted with flags, union, libertarian or otherwise, which
assumes a degree of confrontation with the riot police and did not move banks of windows
exploded in passing. ---- Undeniably, even if this attitude is limited to a small fraction
of the protesters is the index of exasperation when you put a ballot, it is betrayed; when
you go down to 3 million in the street as in 2010, it is despised. What then remains to be
heard?
The mayhem.
As the lie to challenge Sarkozy in 2008: "Now, when there is a strike in France, nobody
notices."
The trouble, however, can it be an alternative to the strike, the blockages? No way. It
makes sense only in a context of massive and popular struggle. A few hundred activists and
radical militants can, alone, bend the state, are no dream. The insurgency theory of
revolution is dead for over a century with the old Blanqui. And strike-general theory has
supplanted continues, year after year, to prevail, because it relies on the direct action
of the masses of Producers, no riot force can never circumscribe .
Moreover, in a country like France, No. 1 worldwide on armaments market of "policing", the
state has every means to contain a few hundred people in a hooded ultra-predictable
framework: marked course, advertised schedules ... Manage a horde of hooligans is more
complex.
Contrary to the hooligans, the work anti-protesters are not beer bags fanatics: they are
activists and political activists who appreciate a situation, a balance of power, and do
not wish to enter a lost climbing advance with the police. It was seen during those four
months: clashes are limited to stone throwing, there has been little physical commitment
to the initiative of the protesters and demonstrators, and when they felt the approaching
end of the game it was the dispersion.
Any event it is not a show?
There is thus a portion of the show, but after all, any event it is not a show? Show the
number of militancy, determination, dignity ... With the show mayhem and confrontation
with the police, it is to create a more electric atmosphere than does the traditional
merguez-ball event .
And in some medium-sized cities, it works. Today in Nantes or Rennes, the protester or the
"average" is not frightened by the robocops by a water cannon or harassment of a
helicopter. We hardens. The union demonstrations are no longer appointments plane-plane
where we come to a walk ...
ambivalent unions
Facing the mayhem, the reaction of the trade unions has been ambivalent. They obviously
refused to show solidarity with the "thugs", whose image is negative to the general
public, but also refused to "maintain order" in the demonstrations, as the government
exhorted them, and have focused their communication denouncing police violence, of a
severity incommensurate with the demonstrators.
The autonomous side, there have been attempts to accuse the union of order services to
work with the police, but overall it preformatted speech collided with reality, with SO
CGT who had neither the will nor the means to deal with what was happening to him. The
clashes of 12 May and 17 May following the release manipulator of the Paris prefecture
have been so thankfully no future, no one who really want an internal feud in the movement.
Two rather questionable consequences
What about the ruckus?
First, we must bring it back to its proper proportions. Broken windows, it's little face
social and economic calamities generated by banks. TF1 or BFMTV never cry on tens of
thousands of indebted people with bank banned or evicted from their home ... but choking
with indignation at some starry displays. This is ridiculous.
Then, we must emphasize how police violence are more dramatic because they await the
people and not to property, and may result in mutilation ...
The trouble, however, two very questionable consequences: first, it is frowned upon by the
mass of demonstrators and protesters who are not involved; secondly, some of the breakers
and thugs tend to the fetish.
The fact is that the vast majority of protesters and demonstrators do not assume this
practice. Most displayed an embarrassed indifference. Some are ashamed. Others rebelled,
feel that their movement is misguided. The more suspicious accuse the police of being
behind it. How many times, as a revolutionary, does one was arraigned on that? It was nice
minimize, relativize, pointing police and social violence, laugh media montages ... we are
often embarrassed the armholes. The strike, blocking of an economic zone, sabotage (as
part of a movement), it is easy to justify, and even try to convince colleagues to
participate. But knock bus shelters, there, in general, we hold.
He has trouble deterred people from going to protest? The question needs to be asked. When
is the nose to the grindstone, we usually muscular demonstrations and adrenaline, you can
find his account. When one has not this culture and we discover images looping on social
networks, alternating scenes of destruction and police violence ... can be bullied.
Beware the fetishistic drift
As for the militant and radical militants, the main problem is a minority fetish
sensitive. The more experienced know well what part of the show in this, ask the question
of the message they transmit and want not only generate consumable riot video on YouTube -
of . Riot porn But when we see bloom slogans glorifying the case to the case ( "I think
therefore I break", "We are all thugs" ...), while claiming that in parallel "We do not
claim anything" ... We have the right to be wary - even if, in addition, we appreciate the
slogandaire poetry.
The risk is that radical groups are derived from the systematic trouble, regardless of
time or place, and no other result than the dislocation of the parade too thin they have
nevertheless seen fit to accompany ... It was seen in 2014, during the protest against the
FN congress in Lyon. Or more recently in the high school protests in March against the
Labor Law, where people often demonstrating for the first time in their lives, have felt
robbed of their movement ...
Economic blockades reconcile everyone
Finally, the mayhem is not a problem in itself. But it may be in some contexts, when the
social movement is just beginning, it is fragile, not ready to endorse it. To have it for
radical groups in mind if they want to win the benevolence or at least the neutrality of
the mass of demonstrators.
To accept the principle of "diversity of tactics", we must work to overcome prejudices to
one side or the other, accept the practices and activists rhythms are not the same if one
is a student, schoolboy, railwayman, docker, Acting, saleswoman, with or without children ...
The best place to overcome the mistrust is still on blocking stakes. Direct action
reconciles everybody. In Nantes, for example, the strongest time of the fight were these
convergence times on the stakes, including the airport, where Vinci workers fraternized
with zadistes, with active support of the wage earners of Airbus.
The government, Medef and the media seek to divide the movement between good and bad
protesters. The blocking actions, in addition to being efficient from an economic point of
view, have the immense advantage of welding the movement in all its diversity.
Lulu (AL Nantes), William (AL Montreuil)
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Grabuge-organise-ca-passe-ou-ca
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