Today's Topics:
1. Collective Mineiro Popular Anarchism - COMP: Anarchist Book
fair of Belo Horizonte (pt) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. karakok: Feldman, Leah, 1899-1993 (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Greece, Libertarian Thessaloniki Initiative: CONCENTRATION
IN SOLIDARITY MEMBERS OF RA | 9/1 (gr) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. US, black rose fed: Fraternal order of police: 100 days of
racist repression By Kadeem Fuller (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Britain, afed: Surrey and Hampshire AF meeting by Nick
(London) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Britain, Class War: Harrods protest, cake-knocked six
arrested - media outrage continues at Qatar royal's theft of
restaurant tips (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
Companions! ---- It is with great joy that the Collective Mineiro Popular Anarchism -
COMPA, organization member of the Coordination Brazilian Anarchist - CAB invites all and
all for the First Anarchist Book Fair of BH, on the occasion of their five years of
existence! ---- Founded in January 2012, the full COMPA five years in a humble way, but
firm in the construction of anarchism in the state of Minas Gerais, and we will have the
joy of sharing this moment with compas who were with us shoulder to shoulder in the social
struggles of our city and state. ---- Given the opportunity, we will hold the First
Anarchist Book Fair Belo Horizonte, which will provide several books, zines, booklets and
other anarchist materials. Adding to the programming of the Fair, we will have a
discussion with the Committee of Solidarity to the Kurdish Popular Resistance São Paulo,
which will discuss the question of a people who, in the midst of a war against religious
ultra-conservative and sexist fundamentalism, promotes a social revolution confederalista
democratic character, internationalist, feminist, secular and ecological, with a huge
female battalion has aroused respect and admiration around the world.
Compañeros Committee will bring to the BH labor accumulation that develop in SP, as well
as books and other materials for sale.
We will also have cultural attractions, vegan food and beverage sales at popular prices.
The event will be January 28, Saturday and soon disclose the location information and
time. They are all and all guests, compas nearby and other chains and political forces
that have contact and respect! Fight, Create, Popular Power! Only the fight changes life!
Long live the COMPA! Viva CAB! Viva Anarchism!
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Message: 2
A biography of Polish-born anarchist Leah Feldman, nicknamed the "Makhnovist Granny" who
tirelessly devoted her life for the cause of working class emancipation. ---- Leah
Feldman, who was cremated in London on January 7th, 1994 was one of the ordinary men and
women who rarely get into history books but have been the backbone of the anarchist
movement. ---- Born in Warsaw in 1899, as a schoolgirl she became interested in anarchism.
She said that her mother used to hide her shoes so that she could not attend meetings,
which were then illegal in Poland. Finally she ran away to her sister in London where she
earned her living at the sewing machine. ---- Working in the sweatshops of the East End
she became active in the Yiddish-speaking anarchist movement that flourished at that time.
When the Russian revolution broke out in 1917 the overwhelming majority of Russian male
Jewish anarchists returned home. Many of those women whose husbands and lovers died at the
hands of the Tsarists or the Bolsheviks, remained in England. The Jewish (in the sense of
neither racial or religious but Yiddish-speaking) anarchist movement gradually dwindled
and ended with Leah's death in January.
Leah, however, had made her own way to Russia. Upon arrival she saw the reality of
Bolshevik rule and was not impressed. As a working woman she could see the effects of
their dictatorship in a way that visiting intellectuals could not. Before leaving Moscow
she attended Kropotkin's funeral, the last permitted anarchist demonstration until the
collapse of Stalinism. (In a great display of self-discipline all of the anarchist
political prisoners who were paroled for the funeral returned to jail, in the hope that
the Bolsheviks would give parole to others in the future).
Leah travelled south to the Ukraine and joined the anarchist Revolutionary Insurrectionary
Army led by Nestor Makhno. The Ukranian anarchists fought Tsarism, foreign intervention
and then the Bolshevik dictatorship. Though she did not actually fight (some women who
could ride horseback did) she joined the train that followed the army and prepared clothes
and food for the orphans and strays they picked up everywhere.
When they were defeated in 1921 she got out of the country by changing her nationality
through a marriage of convenience to a German anarchist. They did not meet again. She made
her way to Paris and then back to London. There she acquired British citizenship by
another marriage of convenience, this time to a derelict ex-serviceman who was paid £10
for his services. They did not see each other until many years later Leah received an
official communication that he was in a geriatric hospital. She used to visit him with
presents of tabacco.
Before World War II she travelled to Poland and Palestine, working her way to both places.
In Palestine she organised a federation of anarchists. One surprise was meeting her old
friend Paula Green, who had been pressurised into marriage in Russia, so had chosen an
atheist zionist with whom she was in love. Paula knew he was active in Labour politics but
thought it impossible that he would ever be in government as he thought her ideas impossible.
Green changed his name to Ben Gurion and became the first prime minister of Israel. His
wife did not leave him but she never once took part in any public functions with him. She
remained a still believing, if passive, anarchist.
When Leah returned to London at the end of 1935 she helped raise money for the German
sailors who organised an anti-nazi resistance group in the 1930s. She also did tremendous
work for the Spanish anarchist movement when the civil war broke out.
Leah was a member of a working group of immigrant anarchist women in Holborn ever since
1939. How, with the confusion of tongues - broken English, Yiddish, Polish, French,
Catalan, Spanish, Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot - they understood each other was a
mystery to many. But they managed.
Leah had to give up work when her eyesight went after an operation. She was completely
blind in one eye thereafter and increasingly so in the other. She used her free time to
help the movement she had given her life to. In the 1960s she smuggled arms into Spain for
the fighters who had continued resisting the Franco regime since 1939. The Catalans, who
are prone to giving nicknames, christened her "la yaya Makhnowista" (the Makhnovist granny).
Her last years were sad. Not only were all her family and her early friends dead, there
was nobody left with whom she could talk in her own language. But she never gave up. She
still supported anarchist meetings and always attended the annual London Anarchist
Bookfair when her health permitted.
Our movement has been built by working women and men like Leah. It is right that we do not
forget their contribution.
Thanks to Leah's friend Albert Meltzer and to the Kate Sharpley Library for information
about Leah's life.
From http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/ws93/leah39.html
https://karakok.wordpress.com/2017/01/08/26605/
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Message: 3
On 5/1 the "anti-terrorism" department arrested Pola Roupa, at home in Heliopolis, while
Constantina Athanasopoulos Agios Dimitrios. Both captured have taken political
responsibility for their participation in the armed revolutionary organization
Revolutionary Struggle. At the same time, the 6chrono child Pola Roupa, who was at home,
was separated from his mother during her arrest and was in "protective custody". ---- From
the moment of conception and then the state shows its real face and exerts all its
vindictiveness on 6chrono child Pola Roupa and Nikos Maziotis. Initially, the family
environment does not even informed of the location in which "kept" the child and any
contact is not allowed with. The Ministry of Justice, shall, of course, notice, which both
indicate the "provisional award of custody in the hospital's social service" and secondly
that "already settled the question of the fixed contact of the child with his close
relatives." Both these proved completely false.
Both by the relatives of the child and by the announcement of the Unionist Movement of
Overthrow, it revealed that the child is subjected to forced "treatment" under guard in a
closed child psychiatric ward "Hagia Sophia", based on a court order asking the child 'be
kept 24 hours a day "and of the" any communication with the parents and with any third
party is prohibited ". So (if we do not know that for hundreds of cases of abused
children, children victims of rape or other children actually need protective custody the
state does not take absolutely no welfare, or as if also we all know that this "standard"
procedure not it has never been applied so far and shall, by chance, in place for the
child two declared enemies of the State) by ... "this is the standard procedure" that had
the audacity to chant the SYRIZAIoi pass because of guarded inclusion ( "hospitalization"
) of six-year old child in child psychiatry ward off heavy child psychiatrist sufferers.
What advice does, and what "typical" process?
All and all we decide to speak out against the state and capital are well aware that the
state has the quiver of many effective tools to attack us, once we fall into his hands.
And where there are other laws arrive, there is always the anti-terrorism, in which we
find ourselves in prison practically without any evidence whatsoever. And when not enough
either, they are also very simple to jump up in the dustbin even the bourgeois
constitution and the laws of: torture in detention, false witnesses in anarchist cases,
incriminating evidence which appears as if by magic, illegal bank DNA samples, reservation
called "protective custody" and many others ... Nonetheless, the use of children as a
means of blackmail and revenge for his parents is an act so vile, that surpasses all
limits. It shows clearly all the stench and rottenness of this system and the respective
political expression -as the "left" government is no different from any right even to
basic human rights issues.
As this immediate reaction to vulgarity, P. Roupa, Law. Maziotis and Mrs. Peacock went on
a hunger and thirst strike with a request to give his son the first two to his relatives.
Finally today, after 3 days of child detention wing gravely ill child psychiatrist, the
child was given to his relatives after the award of temporary custody to his grandmother.
Solidarity Pola Roupa, Nikos Maziotis and Constantina Athanasopoulos
Race against the state and capital
for Communism and Anarchy
solidarity concentration
Monday 9/1 at 12:00
ARCH
Libertarian Thessaloniki Initiative - a member of the Anarchist Federation
lib_thess@hotmail.com
libertasalonica.wordpress.com
https://libertasalonica.wordpress.com
------------------------------
Message: 4
In less than two months since the election of Donald Trump there has been a surge in
violent Islamophobic and xenophobic attacks in this county. While the rhetoric, actions
and entire campaign of Trump has prompted conversations amongst scholars, activists and
folks on the political left it is important to remember that Trump represents not only
himself, but, rather symbolizes the reemergence and emboldening of white nationalism
within the U.S. Empire. White nationalism is an ideological framework that centers the
white cis-hetero male identity as inherently valuable in a national context while
simultaneously positions various ethnic, racial, sexual and gender identities as "other"
and thus inferior. Trump's rise to the U.S. presidency highlights the desire of white
U.S. Americans to be "great again". For the president elect and his supporters, "great"
is an active restructuring of a nation that champions political and social white supremacy
while dismantling any legislative gains that have been made in the daily lived conditions
of oppressed people in this county. In a nation where Trump spews racist, sexist and
xenophobic remarks that have emboldened large groups of people to attack the most
marginalized among us what happens to our Black and Latinx family? Unfortunately, for the
marginalized in this country an answer to these questions was delivered by fraternal Order
of Police earlier this month.
The Fraternal Order of Police is the nation's largest police union with approximately
330,000 members. The Fraternal Order is implicit in the murders of Black and brown
people. The Fraternal Order uses adamant legal defense to protect its members who kill
people who resist their domination. This defense can be seen in 2014 when Akai Gurley, a
28-year-old Black man from Brooklyn, was murdered by police. Peter Liang, the cop who
killed Gurley, called his union rep before the ambulance to tend to Akai. A local example
can also be cited now as we witness the Fraternal Order's support of Champaign ex-cop Matt
Rush. Rush has recently tried to regain his position after a career filled with the
physical attacks of Black folks resulting in lawsuits of approximately 300,000 dollars.
Dave Blanchette, the Fraternal Order of Police spokesman recently remarked that the
decision to fire Rush last year was uncalled for and that Rush should return to his job.
In this nation, the police act as a force of repression, physical harm and power in
communities of color, specifically Black neighborhoods. This year alone the blood of
gunned down victims of state sanctioned police violence such as Philando Castile, Korryn
Gains and Alton Sterling are still flowing in the street. The Fraternal Order serves as
an agency of protection for these killers in uniforms. Policing poor Black and brown
neighborhoods is done with an approach that is inherently punitive.
An example of this type of policing is the Fraternal Order's policy plan for a Trump
administration. Located on Fraternal Order of Police website is a list of policies that
it would like to see implemented during Trump's first 100 days as president. Days after
it was initially posted the document was edited to include a statement that attempted to
shift the purpose of the policy from the political agenda of the union to a statement of
what its members and supporters should expect from a Trump presidency. Regardless of the
determined reasoning for the document its content is disturbing and violent in nature. The
fifteen-point policy plan by Fraternal Order of Police focuses largely on anti-Black and
anti-immigration policies and actions. (https://fop.net/CmsDocument/Doc/TrumpFirst100Days.pdf)
The policy plan targets Black folks and strengthens the militarization and power of local
state police. The policy calls for U.S. attorneys to seek the death penalty in federal
cases involving the murder of police. Another point pushes for Trump to reverse or amend
the ban on racial profiling used by law enforcement and calls for the rescission of
Executive Order 13688. This executive order was implemented last year and it restricts
local police from obtaining military grade weapons and vehicles such as armored vehicles,
specialized firearms and ammunition, explosives and riot equipment. During the time of
the Movement for Black Lives we have seen an increase of righteous social rebellions from
Ferguson to St. Paul. Recently, more Black folks have taken to the streets to actively
resist social, political and economic suffering at the hands of the state. The anti-Black
points in this plan is a reactionary attempt to hinder the progress of political actions
taken by Black folks. It is also a repressive response to the demands of revolutionary
change and calls of freedom by Black folks. In Order to solidify the anti-Black agenda
presented in the document it calls for the reversal of the "friendly" U.S.-Cuban relations
until "cop killers" harbored there are returned to the U.S. This is a direct attack on
the Black freedom fighter Assata Shakur who has been in Cuba since her escape from an
unjust prison sentence in 1979.
The Fraternal Order of Police policy is also anti-immigration. Much like Trump, the
Fraternal Order attempts to use immigrants as scapegoat for the economic crisis that
capitalism, corporate greed, neoliberal deregulation, and eroding of labor gains has
wrought upon this country. The policy plan calls for a restriction of all federal aid and
grant funds to sanctuary cities, the end of deferred action for immigrant children
arriving in the country (DACA) as well as the increased use of federal databases to
identify and deport undocumented people. The immigration policy in this document is
essentially proposing an increase of surveillance and social control of immigrants and
their families. If DACA is repealed there will be no protection for many children who
enter the county and will mean the continual destruction and displacement of countless
immigrant families. The plan also calls for the removal of funding for cities that stand
with immigrant folks to limit the financial support that is available for them. The
Fraternal Order of Police is using policy as a fear tactic to constrict the daily movement
of immigrants in this country.
The Fraternal Order's policy extends the hate and bigotry that is a mainstay of this
country and furthers the criminalization and monitoring of Black folks and immigrants. If
it is not resisted by the people, it could strengthen the already colossal power wielded
by Fraternal Order of Police. The policy should be seen as an open display of violent,
dehumanizing and deadly action toward historically and presently oppressed populations.
Advocates of revolutionary change must remain steadfast in the condemnation of policies
such as these. The political left must also continue to challenge the legitimacy of not
only police, but the Fraternal Order as well. As the nation prepares for the inevitable
repression from a Trump presidency there must be solidarity among the political left and
social movements that champion Black and immigrant struggles. We must organize against
mutual threats against our lives and create collective momentum in combating reactionary
responses to our calls for justice such as the Fraternal Order of Police policy plan.
Kadeem Fuller is a social movement organizer in Urbana-Champaign. He has been involved
with several local organizations including Black Students for Revolution, Black Lives
Matter CU, and the IWW Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee.
[Note: In response to public outcry, the FOP claims that its "First 100 Days" document is
not an advocacy document and does not represent an agenda. However we at Black Rose
Central Illinois do not believe the FOP's transparent lie.
http://www.blackrosefed.org/fraternal-order-police-100-days-racist-repression/
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Message: 5
Surrey and Hampshire AF had a well-attended meeting in Dorking on Saturday January 7th
where there was a discussion on the state of the anarchist movement internationally, plans
for distributions of Resistance and other AF propaganda, a series of discussion meetings
and other projected activities, etc.
https://www.facebook.com/Surreyandhampshireanarchistfederation/
https://afed.org.uk/surrey-and-hampshire-af-meeting/
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Message: 6
UPDATED JAN 10: Protesters from the United Voices of the World Union (UVW), workers and
sympathisers blockaded Harrods and Brompton Road to draw attention to the fact that the
service charge added to Harrods restaurant bills went in to the pockets of the owners, the
Qatari royal family, not to the waiters and restaurant staff. ---- Harrods - and its
Qatari royal owners - continue to take a fine beating across the international media for
allowing this: more protests are being planned... ---- All those arrested have now been
released on police bail conditions that they do not go within 50 metres of Harrods. ----
Architects for Social Housing: Harrods and the Social Cleansing of London. There was a
disproportionately large police presence last Saturday at the United Voices of the World
demonstration at Harrods Department Store.
The protest was called in support of 450 waiters and chefs demanding they receive 100 per
cent of their tips from customers, rather than the 25 per cent they are currently
receiving, which reduces the salary of each member of staff by up to £5,000 per year. To
put this in context, this theft of up to 75 per cent of staff tips by management comes in
a year when Harrods announced that their pre-tax profits for 2015-16 had increased by 19
percent to £168 million, sales had risen by 4 per cent to £1.4 billion, and the owners had
just paid themselves a juicy £100.1 million dividend... full article here
RealMedia: Watch: Harrods waiters' tips protest - 7th January 2017
In an opaque press release, Harrods claims it has been reviewing the tronc system for
several months and is directly engaging with staff on the issue, but waiters have seen
their tips go down over the years, while Harrods has reported record profits for four
years running. Harrods is owned by the richest family on the planet, the Qatari Royal
Family. Protest group ‘Class War' supported the protest, and protesters vowed to keep
returning to Harrods with various actions over the coming weeks until the store agrees to
pass all customers' tips onto the staff... full article here
Daily Fail: ‘I've put 500 of these beauties all over your shop!' Angry protester hides
hundreds of handwritten notes in Harrods - claiming the luxury store is ‘stealing' its
waiters' tips A female protester has left 500 handwritten notes for customers in Harrods
claiming that the luxury Knightsbridge store is ‘stealing' tips from its waiting staff.
Lisa Mckenzie took to Twitter to share the news that she had deposited 500 of the notes
around the London shop on Sunday, following protests outside Harrods a day earlier. The
missives claim that Harrods is mistreating staff by taking around 75 per cent of service
charges paid by customers in the 16 cafes and restaurants in the flagship store... full
article here
The Canary: Chaos at Harrods, as the dark side of Britain's luxury department store is
revealed
On Saturday 7 January, a group of demonstrators brought Knightsbridge in London to a
standstill. They were protesting the treatment of staff by luxury department store
Harrods. The protesters made some very serious accusations, surrounding the alleged
‘theft' of millions of pounds in tips. And the police on the day also came under fire for
what one protester called "over the top" policing... full article here
The Mirror: ‘It's a disgrace!': Furious Harrods employees demonstrate outside famous
London store in row over tips
Demonstrators have taken to the streets of Knightsbridge, London, after furious staff
claimed Harrods keeps up to 75 per cent of their tips... full article here
The S*n: ‘STOP STEALING OUR TIPS' Furious Harrods staff protest outside famous store
demanding they are paid more tips
PROTESTERS barricaded the doors of Harrods this afternoon as staff claimed the
Kightsbridge store keeps up to 75 per cent of staff's tips. People carried banners
demanded the famous store "stop stealing our tips" as part of the dispute. The famous
store had its doors barricaded by furious staff protesting against workers' tips... full
article here
Evening Standard: ‘It's a disgrace!': Furious Harrods employees demonstrate outside famous
London store in row over tips
Demonstrators have taken to the streets of Knightsbridge, London, after furious staff
claimed Harrods keeps up to 75 per cent of their tips. Roads in Knightsbridge were blocked
after crowds of chefs and waiters protested outside Harrods in a row over workers' tips.
One person was arrested after a smoke bomb was set off as demonstrators held banners and
chanted demands for a fairer deal from the iconic London store.
The protest was led by union the United Voices of the World who claim the high-end
department store pockets up to 75 per cent of tips left in its restaurants - working out
as £5,000 a year... full article here
BBC: Two arrested in protest over tips for Harrods waiters
Two people were arrested after a smoke bomb was let off during a protest outside Harrods
department store.
The protest, which blocked roads in the Knightsbridge area of central London, was
organised by the union that represents hospitality workers in the store as part of a row
over tips. The United Voices of the World (UVW) union complained that Harrods was keeping
75% of the cash left by diners.... full article here
Telegraph: Two arrested over Harrods' tips protest after smoke bomb let off
7 JANUARY: Two people were arrested after a smoke bomb was let off during a protest
outside Harrods department store. Dozens of the firm's restaurant workers demonstrated
outside the store, which blocked roads in the Knightsbridge area of central London, over a
dispute over tips...
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Harrods tip demo: Up to six arrests as police defend posh store
Published January 8, 2017
Share
Six people were arrested on January 7th after police piled in to protect posh department
store Harrods from its own staff and their supporters - including UVW union general
secretary Petros Elia.
Two early detainees were taken to Charing Cross police station while Petros and others
were detained at Belgravia. Petros was held for 17 hours before being released without
charge. In a statement, he said:
Firstly, thank you everyone for your amazing messages of support and solidarity over the
past 24 hours and especially thank you to those that came to the police station.
Needless to say that the allegation against me is 100% false, not that the police were
interested in evidence at the point of arrest. They seldom are when it comes to protesters
or trade unionists whom they always arrest with alacrity.
Despite there being not a shred of evidence against me I have been released on bail and
prohibited from going within 50 metres of Harrods. The police have therefore temporarily
banned me from representing members of UVW at Harrods or from protesting outside their
store. This has all sorts of human rights implications.
The police would appear to be, once again, politically policing, and perhaps even acting,
in this case, on behalf of the Qatar Royal Family, who owns Harrods and apparently even
more of London than the Crown Estate, to stamp out United Voices of the World's
unionisation of Harrods workers, most of whom are on poverty or very low wages, and get up
to 75% of their tips stolen in the case of the 500 restaurant staff.
On a side note, the demo was fantastic and we will now be escalating the campaign with a
run of demonstrations and other actions at Harrods until 100% of tips go to staff.
Many of Harrods' 483 porters, waiters and chefs are organising to stop bosses at the firm
- owned by the Qatari royal family - from taking up to 75% of their tips, amounting to up
to £5,000 per person every year. Panicked execs promised to "look at" how service charges
are dealt with last month following threats of a Christmas strike, but are yet to actually
change the policy.
The lively protest saw dozens of people noisily crowding the doors to the famous
department store to demand respect for staff, and other supporters inside the building
distributed 500 notes hidden in boxes and pockets all over the shop for customers to find:
UVW reported yesterday that a record number of the company's chefs called in sick on the
day, and a record number of security guards were on site, including many hired in
specially for the protest: "At least one in every room on the ground floor. And they're
not even the regular Harrods security. They've hired a specialist, private security firm.
Shame on Harrods for wasting money on security instead of just sitting down to talk with
the workers and giving them a 100% of the service charge."
Harrods, which says it runs a tronc system to pool and manage tips "on behalf" of
employees by pushing customers to pay service charges through its own computer system
rather than in cash, generously noted that "employees are not required to accept any
deduction in their salary in order to participate" in the scheme taking most of their tips.
"We have been engaging with our staff directly on this issue," bosses added.
http://www.classwarparty.org.uk/harrods-protest-six-arrested-cake-knocked/
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» Anarchic update news all over the world - 13 January 2017