Today's Topics:
1. France, Alternative Libertaire AL n° special - Call "They
block all": A first assessment (fr, it, pt) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. ucl-saguenay: [A CAT AND ANARCHISTS GAYS IN CUBA par
Collectif Emma Goldman - Polémica Cubana (fr) [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Palestine-Israel, The Israeli "loses management" diminished
the intensity of the weekly confrontations with the joint
struggle demos* (it) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
Launched on March 22, calling unionists "It blocks all! "Gathered more than 1,600
signatories - including more than 120 union structures as such. Featuring debate renewed
strike, he especially helped popularize Economic blocking objective. ---- When the call
"It blocks all! "Is launched, the social movement has taken off with the demonstration of
9 March [ 1 ]. The goal is then to strike while the iron by placing the outset a simple
question: if we want to win and so how is it done? ---- We did not leave anything. The
experience of previous major movements helping, then it is obvious that it is blocking the
economy that must be sought. And there is no blockage of the real economy without a strong
strike rooted, widespread and extended massively. Throughout the fight against Labour law
is what it is endeavored to share the call "It blocks all! ".
By the number, geographical origin and organizational diversity of its signatories -
although activists and Solidarity structures represent more than half and those of the CGT
more than a quarter - it can be estimated that these are tens of thousands of
anti-unionists discussed, exchanged, shared the terms of the call. It has seen the logo
"It blocks all! "Flourish on leaflets, banners, web pages ... doing rallying cry office
for more determined to give nothing to the government and employers. No doubt that the
dynamics of the call was not out of breath and able to adapt to the real movement.
Blockages without the strike?
The existence of the dynamic "It blocks all! "Was undoubtedly helpful. The website and
Facebook page were sounding boards for many actions. Regular contributions punctuated the
different sequences of the fight and tried to address different aspects (of repression,
the link Night stand for example ...). We have seen in some cities create collective "we
block all! "(Grenoble, Marseille, Nantes, Pau ...) a national meeting was held on April 23
and the Paris meeting on May 19
However, the difficulty in anchoring the strike and more to renew has sometimes led to
retain the appeal that the issue of blockade of the economy, favoring activism ... the
risk of disconnecting from the search for a relation of forces pressed the strike action.
Other aspects of the appeal are somewhat remained in the shadows: around the autonomy of
the social movement and claims (including 32 hours).
One thing is certain: this call will be allowed to step in the affirmation of a unionism
contemporary struggle necessary to restore the sense and taste of collective action to the
greatest number.
Théo Rival (AL Orléans)
[ 1 ] "Unionism: To win, block all" Alternative Libertaire, in May 2016.
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Appel-On-bloque-tout-un-premier
------------------------------
Message: 2
Saturday morning early in Havana. Near Revolution Square, the biologist Isbel Torres
arrives by bicycle bringing a basket of vegetables. It will prepare a vegetarian meal for
everyone. Optometrist Jimmy Roque, companion Isbel, waiting for us in the house where they
live together. An anarchist and gay couple living in an occupied building, maybe he does
not need more displeasing to the Cuban government. Then comes the historian Mario
Castillo. All are members of libertarian anarchist collective Atelier Alfredo López, a
Cuban anarcho-syndicalist. Since 2010, the group organized discussions, demonstrations and
direct actions on the island. Maintenance should be done in a tone of voice a little low,
because other families also occupy parts of the building that was once a cultural center
that is abandoned today.
VICE: When the libertarian Workshop Alfredo López was born and what did you do there?
Mario: Our first event was held April 25, 2010 to organize our participation in the march
of May 1st. We held a meeting to discuss anarchist origins of May 1, and we have prepared
posters for the march. We had an affinity group on libertarian issues, we are born from there.
Isbel: We organized several meetings to try to influence the community and learn about
some of the history of the anarchist movement and anarcho-syndicalist in Cuba. Retrieve,
for example, history and location Alfredo López disappeared. At school, nobody told us it
was an anarcho-syndicalist leader, it said it was a labor leader or that he was a communist.
How to be an anarchist in Cuba?
Isbel: I think the most interesting thing is having to invent it. Many countries have
anarchist traditions, but in Cuba, anarchism has been totally eradicated from the
political imagination, references to anarchism are almost zero. Here, when we speak of
anarchism, people do not know what it means.
Jimmy: It's difficult, it cost me my job, I was fired because I was an anarchist.
And how do you know?
Jimmy: They have told me.
Where were the anarchists in the Revolution? Alongside Fidel Castro?
Mario: Cuban anarchists know from the beginning the true face of Fidel. Many of them knew
the political intentions of Castro and his nationalist and megalomaniac mentality, it was
someone who was willing to do any kind of alliance for power.
And after the revolution, what happened to the Cuban anarchists?
Mario: they were repressed. Anarchists were a favorite front lines of the revolutionary
government. There were executions, arrests and some went into exile.
In the 80s, there is information that circulated on a libertarian group called Zapata,
some members would have remained in prison until they die. What happened to them?
Mario: I searched their families, I have their family names and I know that some were from
San Cristobal and Los Palacios, but I found nothing more. It seems that this is the
consequences of fear, for a while I thought it was only an invention of people doing
research on the history of anarchism in Cuba. In over ten years of research, I am still
the same, without information. After the revolution, the Communists took control devices
of culture and education, and they have created a new historical memory in Cuba, they are
the only protagonists. This caused havoc because it erased all memory of social struggle
in the country.
Since the government can tell the story in his own way, you're not afraid that by 20 or 30
years is going the same for the libertarian Workshop Alfredo López?
Isbel: We speak different circumstances. Now we have the opportunity to talk about our
everyday history and part of our job is to inform us about all this, to make us visible in
other countries such as Brazil, France, Germany, that they know about us.
And how a young Cuban anarchist anarchism knows when he has never read books on the
subject and that he knows that the official story?
Mario: It was discovered anarchism that by pure chance. It is possible that new
technologies have helped us. On the internet people can also find some of our work.
The Cuban press is tightly controlled, as is it to have one voice in the country?
Mario: It's just a tool of the state in the process of nationalization of the social
imaginary. Watching TV has become a political attitude to Cuba. For young people this
means that you are part of the system and let you indoctrinate. People ask, "Why are you
watching this shit? ".
I see that the Cuban youth today has more proximity with Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar with
Fidel. Why ?
Mario: I personally think that those who control the country know that myths, symbols and
references to the past are worn today. They channel the crisis to other myths that are
less harmful to them, I think we are well aware of this symbolic crisis we are experiencing.
Isbel: The system is emptied of meaning for the future of youth. Where are the codes of
beauty and success? In capitalism. The rulers have created a society so boring that all
success and beauty images that fascinate young people are from what they see abroad,
because this company has no capacity to create such references.
Mario: The references that younger looking are harmless to the status quo, they do not
pose a problem for the government. Young people think short term and do not care about
what will happen in Cuba in 20 years.
And what will happen in 20 years?
Mario: It will be a capitalist country "normal" with ultra-rich, the gentrified
neighborhoods, racism, a destroyed environment.
What is your opinion on the changes that will be made possible by the end of the economic
embargo of the United States?
Isbel: The US government has changed its strategy to return to the same situation before
the revolution. This relationship allows to convert Cuba into what it was before the
revolution - an island for leisure and tourists. This means a huge impact on the
environment, for example. The entire coast is now ready to be explored further and receive
more cruises. Tourism will destroy Cuba.
After the revolution, all Cubans have a home, health and education free. To what extent is
this true?
Isbel: The housing problem is one of the more serious. There are people who have lost
their homes because of a cyclone in 2005 and are still homeless, they are in hostels. In
addition, the normal is to live three generations under one roof, which generates large
family conflicts. Imagine for the LGBT community, as it is difficult to live in homes
where others do not accept you.
Mario: And there are already slums in provincial capitals. When you go by train to
Camagüey, passengers must organize and close the windows because they can be attacked
during the night. Education has been universalized, everyone has access but was also fully
nationalized and subordinated to the interests of a ministerial elite. Education is very
authoritarian propaganda.
Jimmy: In health there is a lot of bureaucracy, it is very difficult to get a specialist
consultation because it must provide a lot of papers.
Mario: The most important funding source of the state's Cuban doctors now working in other
countries such as Brazil and Venezuela. This creates a national health system compression
process.
Isbel: Priority is to export doctors, why so many health centers here are not working with
professionals. It is not Cuba that is motivated by a humanitarian sense, it simply sends
doctors to countries where they have more money.
Sometimes you do not feel close to the right in his claims?
Isbel: I think so, but it's a matter of perspective. The Cuban National dissent right is
an opposition that does not have many proposals. They meet in a common sense to very
simple requirements on human rights and democratic freedoms, essentially trying to
normalize Cuba, make it like other countries of the world. There are many elements that we
also are demanding such as freedom of expression, human rights, but the problem is the
country you envision for the future. To the right, there is talk of creating a "standard"
country, but for us it means a development paradigm shift and emancipation. Criticism
dissent the pace of change, they want more quickly. For us, the problem is not the speed
but the direction of change, where everything comes this - and here there is a radical
difference between us.
What is the worst for Castro, a Yankee capitalist or a Cuban anarchist?
Jimmy: A Cuban anarchist, of course. Because the other was the same thought that Castro.
And what is worse for a Cuban anarchist, a Yankee capitalist or a communist like Castro?
Mario: Neither is useful for society that we dream.
Isbel: The way to ask the question implies a supposed dichotomy, but that does not exist.
In the anarchist perspective, both options are equal. The Cuban State is already creating
spaces where it is being put back to give investment opportunities to large foreign
capital. For example, the port of Mariel, built with investments from Brazil and that is
precisely a future space of the direct exploitation of workers.
Mario: There is no conflict between them, they are similar. They are perfectly allies. To
open a small capitalist enterprise, here you go to a municipal body and give you
permission. But to create a cooperative, one must obtain permission from the State
Council, the highest authority of government, that usually does not grant you. In other
words, the Cuban government has more confidence in a capitalist in self-management of workers.
And how is the repression of the Cuban government?
Isbel: We have no experience of strong repression, what we have is a constant monitoring
of our homes, our phones, our mails. Not because we have suspicions, but because we have
evidence. In 2009, we organized a march against violence in Havana and the following year,
using just our phones, we called another march on the same date. But it was all fake, it
was just matter of making fun of the state security. We passed the place where the meeting
was supposed to take place and we saw all the safety device which occupied the place.
Mario: After 50 years of institutionalization of fear, it is not necessary to explicitly
repression. Fear is already installed in the company, this is sufficient. As police in
Brazil they have batons and pepper gas, they also have the same things here, but we know
they do not have a great need to use them.
What happens if the police finds us here, three anarchists and an international journalist?
Isbel: Today, nothing happens.
Mario: There may be many things.
Jimmy: They can put us in prison, perhaps.
Isbel: Precisely because we do not know what can happen, it already gives an idea of the
kind of country we live in. The power structure is not working exactly within the law,
they process them, they act as they see fit.
Gabriel Uchida
http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.co.il/2016/08/cuba-entretien-avec-des-anarchistes-de.html
------------------------------------------------
WHO ARE WE ?
The creation of our blog coincided with meetings of the IV Critical Observatory of Havana.
From 12 to 15 March 2010 were held in San José de las Lajas, a town near the capital,
dating from the fourth critical Observatory Cuba. The event, coordinated by the Chair
Haydee Santamaría gathered a good number of people from all over the island, and who had
the opportunity to present, listen and consider the libertarian ideal and practices
self-management as an alternative to contemporary Cuban society. Two editors of this blog
were at San José de las Lajas.
Since then, the libertarian Workshop Alfredo López was born in Havana, it was formed by a
group of young libertarians trained in the critical Observatory.
We are a group of people gathered around a goal, to make known the new political, social
and cultural panorama that today draws in the island where informal groups of young
workers, artists and scholars gathered and gather around discussions, publications,
lectures and events at political and cultural independently of official structures
dominated by big government.
http://www.polemicacubana.fr/?p=11342
------------------------------
Message: 3
After so many years it is hard to get used to the replacement of tear gas and bullets with
threat of arrests if we cross an imaginary line. For many years the activists of the AATW
worried about the day when the Israeli state decision makers will minimise or even stop
the the harsh repression of the weekly joint demonstrations against the occupation, the
settlers and the separation wall. On 27-5-16 was the first demo in Bil'in the state forces
did not shoot us. It took a dozen such non shootings to realize it is a real strategic
shift. The last Friday they even "invited" us to return the demo to the area near the new
separation wall - forbidden for us for about a year. It seems the multi millions invested
in the struggle against the B.D.S. recruited a more intelligent managers who were able to
force the army to swallow their pride and stop harassing the Friday demos and the
international activists participating in them.
Bil'in
15-7 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=966067790159220
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10209875909117527
https://www.facebook.com/haytham.alkhateeb/posts/10208702921863411
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1598839217102154/permalink/1652286015090807/
https://www.facebook.com/mohamed.b.yaseen/posts/966069416825724
https://www.facebook.com/abdallah.aburahma.3/posts/1072487669504209
22-7 Bil'in 22-7-16 Friday demo. 6 Israelis and about dozen internationals joined about
two dozen Bil'iners. The regional commander tried to show his creativity and change the
routine of the relative mild confrontation of the last two weeks. He placed warnings on
used cardboard instead of his armed tags - luring us to disregard them and continue to the
freed areas beyond the old rote of the dismantled fence. After we disregarded the warnings
and nearly reached the new separation wall we were blocked by the soldiers who manoeuvred
in order to arrest activists. During our "too slow" retreat 5 were detained but the rest
of us just regrouped backwards very slow.... till we decided to return to the
village.https://www.facebook.com/drrateb.aburahmah/posts/10210001995429421
https://www.facebook.com/ali.darali.5/videos/1026695230770991/
https://www.facebook.com/haytham.alkhateeb/videos/10208763865146955/
https://www.facebook.com/rani.fatah/posts/10209941401794803
29-7-16 https://www.facebook.com/drrateb.aburahmah/posts/10210064820520009
https://www.facebook.com/mohamed.b.yaseen/posts/974901219275877
https://www.facebook.com/haytham.alkhateeb/videos/10208820254076643/
https://www.facebook.com/haytham.alkhateeb/posts/10208821438426251
5-8-16 Bil'in habibti Friday demo of today - a week before my 79th birthday. 6 Israelis
with the anarchists against the wall initiative, joined scores of international activists
(Japan and Sweden mainly) and Bil'iners. The Israeli state forces "conquered" again the
memorial square of Bassem claiming the are closed by military order.
When we arrived there they threatened participants they will arrest us if we stay there
but did not.
After a long verbal confrontation mainly we returned to the village.
(We do miss the smell of the tear gas and the excitement of evading the shooting at us, -
which stopped more than a month ago, and the pictures are nearly banal (: but it is better
for the health of participants.)
https://www.facebook.com/mohamed.b.yaseen/posts/979289602170372
https://www.facebook.com/haytham.alkhateeb/videos/10208876293077583/
https://www.facebook.com/rani.fatah/posts/10210057268731404
12-8-16 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTo21Xd1VTI
https://www.facebook.com/mohamed.b.yaseen/posts/984090498356949
https://www.facebook.com/haytham.alkhateeb/posts/10208936281137247
https://www.facebook.com/annalisa.portioli/posts/10208045273701997
19-8-16 Friday in Bil'in, The 600th demo against the occupation, the settlers, and the
separation wall. The first demo after my 79th birthday celebration in Bil'in. 7 Israelis
and a dozen of internationals joined 2 dozen Bil'iners in one of the strangest demo. While
we were converging in the fringe of the village for the weekly demo, the state force who
waited in their usual position near the rote of the dismantled separation fence drove away
in a kind of invitation to march toward the forbidden area near the new separation wall.
Afraid of a nasty surprise like in a few weeks ago we took the long round about dirt road
to the gate in the separation wall. After a long long march we arrived there - where the
state forces were waiting for us about 50 meters from the gate - "Allowing us to have the
demo there", threatening with arrests if we cross an imaginary line.
After a long time of a low intercity confrontation with advances and retreats we started
to return to the village.
israelpnm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2I_-FTYkvU
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=989212011178131
https://www.facebook.com/mohamed.b.yaseen/posts/989214127844586
Ni'lin
15-7 israelpnm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoPG5r_IcnU
https://www.facebook.com/anatllanat/posts/920587528050477
22-7-16 israelpnm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh9mouislXk
5-8-16 israelpnm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CSwf93K_gI
https://antinarrativeblog.com/2016/08/06/%D9%86%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%86-nilin-5-8-2016-%D7%A0%D7%A2%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9F/
12-8 -israelpnm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNQx9SMbx00
Qaddum
Kafr Qaddum demonstrations met with tear gas
On the 15th of July in the afternoon, the people of Kafr Kaddum took part in a
demonstration against the Israeli Army’s continuing theft of their road. The soldiers
checked cars going in and out of the village, and stationed snipers in the bushes and on
top of the hill. The Israeli Army also brought men in dark uniforms, a special unit that
is used to quell prison disturbances. They had a Jeep that was loaded with tear-gas.
Clearly, their main goal was to intimidate the demonstrators and stop the protest from
happening.
Palestinian demonstrators march towards the road
https://palsolidarity.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/DSCN5182-768x576.jpg
Palestinians, Israelis and internationals alike were in the crowd. After some chanting,
the people tried to do a march but as soon as they got close to the hill where soldiers
were stationed, stun grenades were thrown at them. The Israeli soldiers also fired rubber
coated steel bullets at the Palestinian youth, as well as several volleys of tear-gas
towards both them and the rest of the crowd. Although no one was hit by their ammunition,
many people suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation.
Before leaving the Israeli Army made sure to destroy the main water pipe of the village,
which will cost some 3000 NIS to repair. An overwhelming use of force was employed against
a people who are simply fighting for the return of their road, which was illegally stolen
from them in 2003.
https://palsolidarity.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/DSCN5260-768x576.jpg
5--18-16 https://www.facebook.com/annalisa.portioli/posts/10207990392409999
Nabi Saleh
12-8-16 https://www.facebook.com/bassem.tamimi/posts/10209252667786049
https://www.facebook.com/bassem.tamimi/posts/10209252546303012
yisraelpnm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNQx9SMbx00
Don't say we did not know #510
The Palestinian villagers of Burin suffer enormous damage, caused by settlers from the
nearby settlement, Yizhar.
For example, on Friday, 1st July, 2016, settlers from Yizhar ploughed a plot of three
dunums (3000 sq.m), land belonging to a farmer from Burin.
Don't say we did not know #511
On Tuesday, 12th July, 2016, Israeli security forces came to a Bedouin neighbourhood,
north of the Palestinian village 'Anata (north-east of Jerusalem) - and demolished four
homes. They also demolished the entire agricultural infrastructure belonging to six families.
On Wednesday, 13th July, 2016, Israeli security forces came to the Palestinian
neighbourhood Jabal Mukabar, annexed to Jerusalem, and demolished three homes that were
being built there, as well as an agricultural structure.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Sunday morning, 17th July, 2016, the Jewish National Fund returned its bulldozers to a
hill near El-Araqib village in the Negev, where they had previously been used for planting
trees near that village.
Don't say we did not know #512
This is what land robbery looks like.
The land ownership of El-Araqib Bedouin village (Inhabitants vs. the State) is still being
argued in the District Court. Nevertheless, on Sunday, 17th July, 2016, JNF bulldozers,
escorted by the police, started earth-moving works on the village land. The purpose: to
complete plantation of a forest of trees on that same land whose ownership is still being
disputed in Court. During the week, eight El-Araqib residents were arrested, after they
had conducted a protest at the invasion. All those arrested were subsequently released.
On Sunday, 24th July, 2016, the JNF bulldozers started work again on the land. Yet again,
eight protesters were arrested, but later released.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Wednesday, 20th July, 2016, government representatives, under police escort, arrived
for a day of demolitions of Bedouin homes in the Negev. At A-Zarnug, near Bir El-Hammam,
they demolished a home. In Bir El-Hammam, a home owner demolished his own home. In Wadi
El-Na'am, south of Beer Sheva, they demolished two homes. In Laqiyya, they demolished a
building.
Don't say we did not know #513
On Thursday, 4th August, 2016, IDF soldiers demolished five homes and a sheep-pen, in the
Bedouin village El Mu’arrajat, north of Jericho. Some sheep and cows escaped. Not far
away, on the other side of the road, the soldiers demolished tents that were used by
village shepherds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Wednesday, 3rd August, 2016, JNF heavy machinery entered the lands of Nuri El'Uqbi
(near Eshel HaNasi). The land ownership where JNF intruded is currently in dispute in
court. Some ten years ago, 12 dunums (dunum = 1000 sq.m) of the land in dispute was
confiscated in order to pave Road 310.
On Thursday, 5th August, 2016, government representatives under police escort, came to the
Bedouin village Hashem Zane (near Segev Shalom) and demolished the home of a mother and
her ten children.
--------------------------------------------
Don't say we did not know #514
Last week, there were many homes demolished all over the West Bank.
I have chosen, instead, to highlight the uprooting of olive trees. The case is one of
land proclaimed by the IDF as "survey land." This represents an attempt to steal land
from Palestinians by cancelling the Palestinian ownership and handing it over to the
state, i.e. Jewish ownership. On Tuesday, 9th August, 2016, IDF soldiers arrived and
uprooted some 250 olive trees belonging to villagers of Iskaka, east of the settlement Ariel.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Monday, 8th August, 2016, government representatives under police escort arrived and
demolished a home in Kseife, a Bedouin town in the Negev. Then, due to threats from the
government and the police, a Bedouin family demolished two homes belonging to it, in Umm
Namila (north of Rahat).
Questions & queries: amosg@shefayim.org.il
=================================
* From my blog at: http://ilanisagainstwalls.blogspot.com
See at the blog previous reports about the joint struggles the Anarchists Against the Wall
take part in.
See also: Stories from the year 2100 - 50 years after the revolution
http://awalls.org http://ilan.shalif.com/anarchy/glimpses/glimpses.html
http://ilan.shalif.com/anarchy/glimpses/glimpses-it.html
http://ilan.shalif.com/anarchy/glimpses/glimpses-heb.html
Ahdut (Unity) blog: http://unityispa.wordpress.com/
Ahdut (Unity) Position paper about the Palestinian struggle
English - http://www.anarkismo.net/article/27019
Arabic - http://www.ahewar.org/debat/show.art.asp?aid=430180
------------------------------
