Today's Topics:
1. anarkismo.net: Revolutionary Anarchist Prisoner Umut Firat
Süvariogullari Ended His Hunger Strike With Victory by Devrimci
Anarsist Faaliyet - DAF (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. Greece, verba-volant - Ioannina Libertarian Union Union:
Ioannina: Concentration outside the Hamburger for non-payment of
wages (gr, ca, pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. US, Black Rose Rochester, Genesee River Rebellion: A NEW DAY
COMING (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Britain, afed: WHAT LONDON AF HAVE BEEN UP TO RECENTLY by
Nick (London) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. freedom news - Double book analysis: Peter Davison on George
Orwell (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
Revolutionary Anarchist prisoner and Anarchist Meydan Newspaper writer Umut Firat
Süvariogullari has ended his hunger strike action that he started on December 11, 2016,
against the conditions of State Of Emergency (SOE) he was exposed in Izmir Yenisakran T
Type Prison number 4, where he was "transferred for exile", being forced with 20 people to
stay in 14 person cells and sleep on torn beds with blood, against continued pshycological
pressure, torture and unrecognition of his revolutionary anarchist political identity, on
its 55. day. ---- Prison administration took a back step as a result of Umut Firat's
determined struggle and they changed his cell as per the demands of our comrade. Comrade
Umut Firat communicated through his family, that he ended his hunger strike when his
demands were met and his health condition is fine.
The victory that comrade Umut Firat won on the 55th day of his hunger strike against the
practices that create a SOE inside SOE in prisons , is a response to state institutions
that want to take advantage of the arbitrariness and flexibility of the SOE process. The
victory is also a victory in the name of all prisoners who are exposed to similar
practives in the SOE process.
Umut Firat's struggle that he carried out with determination, were supported with
solidarity actions in the geography that we live in and in other parts of the world;
trying to add voices to his voice. We salute all revolutionary organizations that didn't
leave him alone and everyone who showed solidarity during the hunger strike action of
comrade Umut Firat Süvariogullari.
Long Live Anarchist Solidarity!
Umut Firat Süvariogullari Is Not Alone!
Revolutionary Hearts Will Destroy The Cells!
Related Link: https://www.facebook.com/anarsistfaaliyetorg/posts/1841985462684002:0
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/30000
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Message: 2
The short informational text of the Ioannina Libertarian Trade Union Union follows a
protest outside the hamburger shop in the city of Ioannina because employers failed to pay
workers' wages when they were dismissed. Also follows the communiqué issued by the Union
on the same subject. ---- On February 4, 2017, it was blocked by solidarity and
solidarity, and the União Sindical Libertária de Ioannina, Fat Angus hamburger, located on
the corner of Averof and Anexartisias streets, in the center of the Ioannina market. The
employer of this business refuses to pay two workers their wages (since last summer), the
extraordinary payment of Easter and the summer vacation of 2016 . To each of them should
550 euros. The blockade lasted an hour, during which leaflets were distributed and slogans
were shouted incessantly. It may be that the case has taken the judicial route, on the
other hand, the workers know very well that the struggles, the demands and the dignity are
conquered, mainly, in the streets. We do not forget and we do not reassure ourselves. The
syndicalism without hierarchy is the nightmare of the bosses and of the State.
No peace with the bosses. Solidarity will be victorious.
Following is the text distributed during the block:
The burgers cost two layoffs
It is not the first or last time that bosses dismiss workers as a pretext that "I have no
money". Especially when these workers ask for nothing more than legal, that is, to collect
their wages. Even more so if these dismissals are vindictive, as in the present case, in
which the boss and his accountant, instead of giving the workers the days prescribed in
the legislation signed their resignation "of their own volition." And they "forgot" to pay
them the Easter, Christmas and Holiday. We noticed that this employer had hired people
without social security, without any interest in the physical security of the people, as
well as the legal consequences that could have.
At the same time, the businessman Tsiatis Lloriquea, not having money to pay workers, runs
his business normally (with new employees). Apparently he paid very little money, not only
for the raw materials necessary for the operation of the venture, but also for the
necessary publicity of his business on the most known radio stations.
The time the workers gave him was not short. He had almost three months to pay them. When
he refused, they gave him another time, but he did not pay them again. It's been six
months. We have no false delusions. The bosses do not pay us not because they do not have
money but because they do not want to do it.
His method is known to us: one after another and then wait for the subject to fall into
oblivion within the labyrinth of bureaucracy. However, they do not count on the employees.
If we expect the institutions (the bosses) to solve the problems we have with the bosses,
the chains that keep us tied to the wage slavery regime would be visible and we would talk
about slavery. The organization in associations and unions is what will put a brake on the
employer's arbitrariness.
It is time for the bosses (small and big) to know about it. The workers did not go crazy
one morning and began to distribute food in the rain or astonishing snow, risking their
physical integrity. They do it because the only way is to sell their workforce. They do it
to live with dignity. They are not begging their bosses, they only demand that they pay
their rights, because they correspond to hours of work used for the bosses to profit.
Fat Angus to pay immediately the money of the dismissed.
Ioannina Libertarian Union Union
Translation: Anarchist News Agency.
The text in Greek, Castilian .
02/15/2017, 00:15
http://verba-volant.info/pt/ioannina-concentracao-fora-da-hamburgueria-por-nao-pagamento-de-salarios/
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Message: 3
Can you feel the old world dying? ---- Don't worry, we won't need to mourn its passing.
You'll recognize the old world from all of the stories that make you feel tired to the
bone. ---- "Young black man shot by police while walking home." ---- "Family evicted by
bank too big to fail." ---- "Workers paid pennies at billion-dollar corporation." ----
"Rapist gets away with it, again." ---- "Syrian hospital destroyed by US bombs." ---- This
world can't sustain itself. You can see that in the continual, rolling economic collapse
throughout the world. You can see it in the climate crisis that there's never the
necessary political support to really address. You can see it in various civil wars,
migrant crises, and uprisings. You can see it here in Rochester, where the empire can't
even maintain the livelihood of its own citizens.
Our world today is falling apart faster than Bernie Sanders' hopes and dreams. Not only is
it crumbling, but everyone knows it. Some people know it in a clear way and can articulate
how they think things need to change. But for many of us, it's like our lives are an
apartment infested with bed bugs - shit is uncomfortable, drives us mad, and it seems like
we'll never get rid of the problem.
If only we could find the single individual responsible for the viciousness and stupidity
around us, we could just light him on fucking fire. Unfortunately it isn't that easy.
As this world dies, a new one will inevitably take its place. What will that world look
like? We are going to have some real choices to make.
We could allow our world to continue in the same direction it has gone for the past 50
years. This would mean increasing inequality. It would mean power further accumulating in
the hands of the very wealthy and powerful.
To run the world this way requires a divide and conquer strategy for society. That means
we'll see continued structural racism and anti-immigrant ideology. We'll see current
problems get worse, as fewer people have access to healthy food, medical care, or decent
education. The brutality of irregular wars will grow as an ever-fragmented humanity fights
over control of key strategic resources.
But we have another choice. We could use the crisis of this moment to learn some vital
lessons.
We could move towards a world where the wealth we create is shared by all. We could foster
communities and societies where power is shared by all. We could finally build a world
where the perpetual struggle to survive doesn't constantly loom over us all. Instead we
could find real joy and fulfillment of our genuine potential as a unified humanity.
This choice might sound melodramatic. But this is the reality that confronts us. The
collapse of the old world demands the creation of a new one.
To the vast majority of us the choice between these two worlds seems like an obvious one.
Why would anyone in their right mind want to move towards less democracy and more
inequality? Why would anyone want to double down on absurd divisions between people from
race to gender to sexuality? Well, if you have these questions, then the rise of lifesize
Troll-doll Donald Trump would seem really confusing.
The reality is that those in power now will do nearly anything to keep their luxurious
position. They understand something that the rest of us need to learn quickly - crises are
opportunities. When the current world becomes unsupportable - when it becomes apparent
that change is necessary - people will open themselves to very new ideas and drastic
changes. This can be just as bad for us as good. It depends entirely on what we do about it.
Luckily people throughout the world are vigorously fighting for genuine freedom and
equality. They're providing examples that we can follow.
In France, after the government pushed through laws making it easy to fire workers and
effectively destroying their 35-hour work week, French workers have done something
incredible. Instead of grumbling in front of the TV about what jerks politicians are, they
revolted. Industry after industry has gone on strike while thousands are flooding the
streets everyday in mass rebellion. The police even begged them to stop protesting so
much, saying that they just couldn't keep morale up and continue attacking workers in the
street at the same time. That sounds like a joke. It isn't. They really said that.
In Syria, the land that literally fucking everyone forgot, the disgusting spiral of war
crimes has led to an utterly devastated country and massive migrant crisis. In such
horrible circumstances, it's hard to imagine a group of people pushing for a more
idealistic world. But in largely Kurdish territory of what was once northern Syria, you
can find the Rojava Revolution taking place as we speak.
In Rojava they're embracing a revolutionary practice of direct democracy. Decisions at the
local level are made through neighborhood and family gatherings with women represented
equally in decision making. The wealth of the region is increasingly owned by all of the
people of the region, managed and run largely through cooperatives. Meanwhile, they're
fighting a war. Women have their own militia, the Women's Protection Units, which has been
critical in major victories against ISIS. This is especially exciting, as ISIS theology
states that being killed by a woman means a man won't get into paradise. So, of course,
they run. You know, to maintain their masculinity.
Just a couple of years ago, students in Quebec put up an inspiring fight for free public
colleges and universities. As the government passed a law that would massively raise
tuition over a few year period, students went on strike. Colleges and Universities
throughout Quebec were entirely shut down as students organized massive protests
throughout the province. Many of these students, organized into massive student unions,
have been so organized and shown such willingness to shut shit down, that politicians are
rightly afraid to screw with them today.
What these moments, and so many more teach us is that everyday people actually have the
power in our society. They may pass laws in Washington, Albany, City Hall - but when we
are organized and refuse to obey, the agenda of the powerful goes nowhere. At the end of
the day, bosses need workers, landlords need tenants, administrations need obedient
students, governments need obedient citizens. We don't need them at all.
We need to begin to imagine what it looks like for us to have real power in Rochester.
What would real resistance movements look like here? We need to come together and make
real plans if we're going to seize this moment.
There are plenty of areas where we have real power, and we just need to demonstrate it.
Here are a couple of ideas to get us started.
Next time a young black person is executed by police, none of us go to work. Schools,
transit, restaurants, and others all shut down as the city grinds to a halt in anger and
in mourning. I expect we'd start to get some answers with the hope of placating the new
power in town - us.
Rents are rising all over the city while the quality of housing is dropping. Renters
across the city need to come together in Tenants Unions and go on rent-strike against
ever-rising rents and low quality housing. They can't evict us all and if they try
thousands of us would pour into the streets to defend our neighbors. We could make housing
a human right instead of a commodity over night.
Fast food workers in the Fight for $15 have been providing an example too. As they strike
demanding higher wages and union rights, they show that even a small number of workers
taking bold, public action can win. But it can't continue to be a small number of workers.
Every fast food worker needs to join the Fight for $15. Workers at Walmart, Target,
Costco, Wegmans, and all the other poverty-creating billion-dollar companies need to start
organizing, making demands, and striking too.
You know what, to hell with the old world! Let's get to the business of revolution. Crisis
or no crisis, there's no reason we should continue living in a world that sees us as
dollar signs instead of people who deserve freedom, joy, and all the wealth of the world
that we create and maintain. We deserve a world free of poverty, oppression, and misery.
And we have the power to make it happen.
The truth is, we have to start now. The moment in front of us won't last forever. Not one
more murder. Not one more eviction. Not one more child going to sleep hungry. We can have
that world. We just have to fight for it.
If we're going to get there, we need to walk with vision. We need to learn our histories.
We need to hear about the the other inspiring fights around the world. We need to begin
developing a view of where we're going. So that's why we're writing this paper. We're not
just planning to relentlessly mock those in power - as fun as that is - we're going to
share a vision for the world with all of you. We're going to share a vision that we hope
can help us take advantage of the moment we're in, a vision that we hope can lead us all
towards a new, beautiful world.
http://riverrebellion.org/2016/08/09/a-new-day-coming/
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Message: 4
Several street distributions of Resistance and Rebel City. Yesterday 5 of us distributed
Rebel City in Bethnal Green.
Attendanceon Tuesday at Haringey demo against local Labour council's attack on social
housing. The mighty London AF banner got another airing.
Successful public meeting on the Police , Prisons and State Violence. Well attended and
with attendance from Brazilian, Greek and Polish comrades!
More distros planned and more public meetings too. Watch this space!
https://afed.org.uk/what-london-af-have-been-up-to-recently/
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Message: 5
In this review and analysis piece, Raymond S. Solomon discusses works by George Orwell and
annotations by Peter Davison in two of the Orwell expert's books, exploring the turbulent
1930s including issues around Palestine, the Spanish revolution, and the beating of Oswald
Mosely's British Union of Fascists. ---- BOOKS REVIEWED ---- Davison, Peter (ed.) (2013)
George Orwell: A Life In Letters, Selected and Annotated. New York, London. Liveright
Publishing ---- Davison, Peter (ed.) (2009) George Orwell: Diaries. New York, London.
Liveright Publishing ---- Orwell's Visit to Parliament ---- Peter Davison's comments and
annotations are excellent; and informative about George Orwell. The historical information
in his annotations constitute mini-encyclopedias. Whether it was among unemployed Wigan
coal miners, POUM members in Catalonia, poor Arabs and Jews in Morocco, or Indian coolies,
Orwell's empathy was with the exploited, those unjustly accused, and economically marginal
people.
Palestine, 1939
In his August 11th, 1939 diary entry Orwell wrote about attending a "House of Commons
reception for Menna Schocat, representing the League for Jewish-Arab Unity."
Peter Davison notes: "Menna Schoct was a pioneer revolutionary in tsarist Russia who
suffered imprisonment and exile. She escaped and went to Palestine, where she was active
in various workers' movements. She insisted on Jewish-Arab workers' unity and championed
the cause of Arab peasants.
"The Independent Labour Party proposed to work for the unity of Jewish and Arab masses
against British imperialism, in the hope of setting up a workers' state federated with
neighboring states. It also championed the right of persecuted Jewish workers in Europe to
enter not only Palestine, but all countries, including Britain and the Dominions."
Others had the idea of a Middle East federation. During World War I Agronomist Aaron
Aaronsohn, who fought against the Ottoman Empire, hoped to create an anti-colonial
alliance of Jews, Arabs, and Armenians, against the occupying Ottoman Empire.
In 1947 and 1948 a regional federation was proposed by Uri Avnery. As Avnery Biographical
Notes explains, in "September 1947, on the eve of the Israeli-Palestinian war, Avnery
published a booklet entitled War or Peace in the Semitic Region, which called for a
radically new approach: An alliance of the Hebrew and Arab national movements in order to
liberate the common ‘Semitic Region'." Semitic Region is a term coined by Avnery in order
to accurately describe the area and replace the British colonialist term "Middle East."
Asturias, 1939
In a diary entry on August 8th 1939, Orwell wrote, "Again reported that largish numbers of
Asturian soldiers are still holding out in the mountains.[Daily Telegraph]."
Davison comments: "Miners in Asturia, in the North of Spain had[a]revolution in 1934 ... a
feature there during the Spanish civil war, in September and October 1937 was Germany's
practice of ‘carpet bombing,' regardless of civilians below. Although Franco's forces were
successful in obtaining for the Nationalists the coal resources of the region,
guerrilleros continued to fight until 1948." These resources were put to use by Nazi
Germany during World War Two.
The Asturia miners' revolution of 1934 itself was crushed by troops led by General
Francisco Franco, during the reactionary period of the Spanish Republic (1933-1936). In
Rebel Voices, IWW activist Raymond Galstad, who fought on the side of the Spanish
Loyalist, describes the heroism of Asturia miners both as miners and as fighters in the
Spanish Civil War. In the prefatory comments to Galstad's article it is mentioned that (a)
many Wobblies fought in CNT units during the Spanish Civil War; and (b) the IWW had an
assessment for support of the CNT. The Spanish revolution of 1936 was one of the most
far-reaching revolutionary events of the 20th century, and possibly in world history. It
was very much in accordance with IWW philosophy.
There was an Asturia miners' strike in 1962. Many people hoped that this would lead to
Franco's downfall. The Communist Party of Spain called for a Spanish general strike.
During the summer of 1962, the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade put an ad in The
New York Times with the headline, "Anti-American Feeling is Growing in Spain" and called
for a change in American policy, i.e. ending American support of Franco. United States
Senator Stephen Young (Dem., OH) spoke against American support of Franco. But Franco
remained in power until his death in 1975. However, the 1962, Asturian miners' strike in
Spain was an important revolutionary event.
Orwell and the BUF
In his March 16th, 1936 diary entry, Orwell described a speech by the demagogic leader of
the British Union of Fascists, Oswald Mosley and quotes Mosley as saying, "We fought
Germany before in a British quarrel; we are going to fight them now in a Jewish one."
Davison's notation is: "Seven months later, in October, Mosley attempted to force the BUF
(British Union of Fascists) through the East End of London in an anti-Jewish protest
march. The ensuing violent opposition led to what later became known as the Battle of
Cable Street."
Police in London co-operated with Mosley's BUF. But one source of the biggest forces of
opposition to Mosley were the London dock workers. This was because during the 1889 dock
workers strike, and again during the 1926 British general strike, Jewish workers in
Whitechapel took in, and cared for strikers' children. This type of labor solidarity that
was demonstrated by the Whitechapel Jewish workers in taking in dock workers' children was
also shown during the 1912 Bread and Roses strike, when New Yorkers took in children of
strikers from Massachusetts. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn has written about that in The Rebel
Girl- IWW member Flynn was one the movers behind this deed of solidarity.
In his introduction to Rebel Voices Fred Thomson says: "The Industrial Workers of the
World was founded in Chicago in 1905. It took its name to declare its hope that the
organisation could end the use of workers against each other anywhere-in the same plant,
or in the same industry, or across oceans, in peace or in war, either to cut each other's
pay or to kill each other's kids. That is still its aim today."
The Communist Party
The British Communist Party also played a key role in resisting Mosley's brown-shirt
fascist uniformed goons. The Independent Labour Party (ILP) played also a significant role
in physically resisting Mosley's goons in the Battle of Cable Street. Anarchist Marie
Louise Berneri wrote about the deep rooted anti-fascism of the British working class and
how that was manifest in blocking Mosley's fascists from entering Whitechapel during the
Battle of Cable Street.
Orwell was, for a brief period, a member of the British Independent Labour Party (ILP.) In
1938, he give his reasons for joining the Independent Labour Party as, "The tempo of
events is quickening; the dangers which once seemed a generation distant are staring us in
the face. One has got to be actively a socialist, not merely sympathetic to socialism."
The ILP was the only group close enough to what he believed, and although relatively
small, was the only party "big enough to matter." They were less likely to blindly lead
him into a war. At that time he was planning to resist the upcoming War. But as the war
approached, he knew that Hitler had to be stopped, and although the ILP was anti-Nazi, it
did not support Britain's efforts in World War II, and continued to believe that
revolutionary resistance in occupied countries would defeat the German and Italian
fascists. But before the Second World War, the ILP had fought fascism in the streets of
Whitechapel and in the trenches of Spain.
In "The Road to Wigan Pier" Orwell asserted that "All people with small insecure incomes
are in the same boat, and should be fighting on the same side." This is still a principle
goal of the IWW. In part Five of "Looking Back On The Spanish War," Orwell writes about
the defeat of the workers in the labor struggles after the Russian Revolution through
illegal violence, "in country after country." For example, during the 1926 British general
strike, London was turned into an armed camp by the government. Tanks were patrolling the
streets of London. Orwell blamed this defeat after defeat, in part, on a lack of
solidarity among workers. This shows the importance of labor solidarity.
Meeting Sonia
Was Orwell's radical-labor heritage to continue? One of the most personal letters in the
"Letters" book is from Arthur Koestler. Koestler advised him to marry Sonia Brownell,
without delay. Koestler said that Sonia Brownell (1918-1980) was one of the nicest people
he knew in Britain.
Sonia Brownell was of great comfort to George Orwell in the last months of his life and
married in in 1949. She was primarily responsible for the publication of the various
collections of Orwell's writings that were published after his death, and therefore for
Orwell becoming more famous then he was after the publication of Nineteen Eighty-four, and
for his left-wing views being much more widely read. In promoting Orwell's heritage Sonia
Orwell worked with David Astor, Richard Ress, and Ian Angus. Ian Angus edited with her the
four volumes, Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell, first published
by Seeker and Warburg in 1968.
During Orwell's lifetime Homage to Catalonia sold under a 1,000 copies. Under Sonia
Brownell's influence not only was it republished but various collections containing such
essays as "Looking Back on the Spanish War," "Reflections On Gandhi," "England Your
England," and "The Prevention of Literature" were widely read throughout most of the
non-totalitarian world.
On Russia, and in conclusion
After World War II many Russians soldiers were forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union,
where many of them were executed. In a letter to Koestler, Orwell reported that American
repatriation authorities had seized the Ukrainian language edition of Animal Farm from the
displaced persons camp in Belgium, which was populated by Ukrainians. The copies were
handed over to the Russian authorities. In his essay "The Prevention of Literature,"
Orwell deals with the historical cover up of the forced repatriation of people to the
Soviet Union.
In endorsing Nineteen Eighty-Four, Bertrand Russell said that it warns against
totalitarianism and not just in the narrow sense of fear of Soviet Russia. And US citizens
have learned over the years that the government has secretly engaged in totalitarian
activities involving such things as our involvement in the murder of Patrice Lumumba,
attempts on the life of Fidel Castro, the Phoenix Program in Vietnam which may have killed
as many as 40,000 people, and lies about such things as the Gulf of Tonkin incident. As
the Pentagon Papers illustrate, Presidents Johnson and Nixon lied about the Vietnam War,
to Congress and to the American people.
George Orwell: A Life in Letters and George Orwell Diaries are valuable sources of
information for scholarly researchers on Orwell and 20th century history. These books open
new vistas, even for seasoned Orwell readers and students.
I conclude this review with the story of how the Queen of England obtained her copy of
Animal Farm. As told by George Orwell in a letter to Dwight Macdonald, and reprinted in
George Orwell: A Life in Letters, the first printing of Animal Farm was sold out. Even
Orwell did not have a copy of Animal Farm left. So the Queen of England sent a messenger
to George Woodcock's anarchist bookstore. This is how Her Majesty the Queen of England
acquired her copy.
https://freedomnews.org.uk/double-book-analysis-peter-davison-on-george-orwell/
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