Today's Topics:
1. US, Invitation to the New York Anarchist Book Fair 2017
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. France, Alternative Libertaire - Debate, The history of
alternative movements 1936: Living the Utopia or Spain under the
sign of libertarian communism by AL Gard (fr, it, pt) [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. France, Alternative Libertaire AL - Clash, AL Youth
Newsletter (March 2017) - 19 March: For justice and dignity (fr,
it, pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Greece, "restive horse" APO: BY MIKEL UP TO THE BOSSES
SPEEDEX ... Murder! (gr) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Czech, afed.cz: Twice in Belarus - In Minsk antifascist
sentenced to exemplary punishment, but in Brest anarchists were
in the forefront of social protest. [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Poland, rozbrat.org: INFORMATION COMMENTS - 18/03/2017
LEIPZIG - DO NOT PASS [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. Romania, iasromania: anarchism , History; FRANCISCO "EL
QUICO" SABATÉ LLOPART -- 1915-1960 [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
8. Britain, south wales anarchists: Blurring the boundary:
Cardiff event links Whitehall to arms trade (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
9. UA, WSA, ideas and action: Workers' Self-Management: Steve
Fake By Winter Jones (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
10. anarkismo.net: Aodhan Ó Ríordáin: Playing The Big Man in
America by Tomás Lynch - Rabble (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
11. anarkismo.net: Aodhan Ó Ríordáin: Playing The Big Man in
America by Tomás Lynch - Rabble (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
This year we will honor the wonderful immigrant, anarchist, Super Woman Emma Goldman. And
remembering his pursuit on the 100th anniversary of his prison sentence. ---- Dear
comrades, ---- The 11th Anarchist Book Fair in New York will take place on Saturday, May
13 at the Judson Memorial Church in Manhattan. ---- The book fair is committed to
providing space for the anarchist community to gather, reflect and build tools to move
forward in creating a truly free world. This year, with the additional challenges posed by
the far-right government occupation and direct threats ---- Which it represents for
immigrants and non-white groups, it is critical that we use the fair's opportunity to
promote our opposing ideas and actions. The book fair has always had strong participation
from immigrant anarchists from around the world. Now more than ever, we need to come
together to support these groups and help give them a voice.
Every year, about 2,000 people visit the New York Anarchist Book Fair and participate in
their workshops, panels, skills sharing and other activities. This is a unique opportunity
to promote the work of our community.
It is in this spirit that we reach you now. The open call for proposals for workshops,
panels, experiments are now on our website; We would like to invite you to use it to send
your ideas and initiatives to the book fair collective to consider. You are also invited
to attend our organizational meetings. We would also like to invite you to participate in
the organization of arts, music and film festivals that always accompany the book fair and
collaborate with us in logistics activities that include volunteer coordination, kitchen
management and child care on the day Of the book fair.
The New York Anarchist Book Fair is part of the fabric of the anarchist community, in NYC
and everywhere, and in this critical moment, we expect every committed person to
participate. We envision an anarchist community in which we collaborate and support each
other on the basis of our fundamental principles, whatever our differences may be. In this
repressive and reactionary time in which we find ourselves today, we know that autonomy,
solidarity and our dedication to resistance can only strengthen us.
We look forward to seeing you, now and May 13.
Anarchistbookfair.net
------------------------------
Message: 2
Debate organized within the framework of the Utopia-Dystopia festival, Saturday 18 March
from 3pm to 5pm in Arles at the church of the preaching brothers by Alternative Libertaire
- Gard. ---- Presentation of the debate: ---- It was during the Spanish Revolution of 1936
that the libertarians touched as closely as possible the utopia that generations of
activists had carried out daily. An exceptional self-management experience emerged. An
almost unique example in the history of the international labor movement. As soon as the
military coup (Pronunciamiento) triggered by General Francisco Franco, July 18, 1936, the
resistance is organized. It is above all the work of unions and revolutionary
organizations. The government of Frente Popular, elected in February 1936, remains
impotent. In Aragon, in the Levant, in part of Castile and especially in Catalonia, the
"nationalist" armies are routed by the mere mobilization of the working class, organized
predominantly within the libertarian syndicate: the CNT.
Link to the Utopia-Dystopia festival press kit
https://ismo-feg.univ-amu.fr/sites/ismo-feg.univ-amu.fr/files/article/dossier-de-presse_utopie_dystopie.pdf
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?L-histoire-des-mouvements
------------------------------
Message: 3
On 19 March, it is a mobilization against racism that is plaguing the state, the media,
the police and the judiciary. The police do not hesitate to use violence to defend the
social order (remember the repression of protesters against Labor law). And when her
victims do not have white skin, she knocks harder still! ---- When the police wound,
mutilate, humiliate or kill, whether it be Adama Traore, Theo Luhaka or all the others,
justice becomes an accomplice. As if insults, injuries and the dead were not enough, it
relaxes the police or condemns them to weak sentences. While at the same time, those who
revolt against these injustices are presented as delinquents and take prison. ---- It is
only through collective struggle for justice and truth that victims succeed in simply
enforcing the law. The media gives the floor to so-called reactionary experts, who are
increasingly dropping out as the presidential election approaches. So much so that the
head of a police union can quietly declare on television that the insult "bamboula" is
"suitable".
Over the years, from the repetition of these acts of violence and their impunity, it is
clear that these are not bribes and exceptional cases. It is a real system of intimidation
of the inhabitants and the inhabitants in the working-class neighborhoods. The fact that
the Anti-Criminal Brigades behave like troops of occupation in hostile zone is a legacy of
the colonial period.
Contempt and repression
Migrants who have committed no crime other than having no residence permit must be
harassed by the prefectures, the police who steal their blankets and prevent them from
sleeping on the ground. street.
Faced with this tragedy, there is only one possible political response: the regularization
of undocumented migrants, and freedom of movement. Let us say it clearly: the "migratory
invasion" is a myth. One million migrants are 0.2% of the European population.
Tract PDF to download
The bluff of the state of emergency
The state of emergency prevented any terrorist attacks. On the other hand, it has been
useful to muzzle protest movements. This has been reflected in the increased
stigmatization of Muslims, who are targeted by the majority of searches and house arrest.
Yet less than 1% of these "preventive" measures have resulted in judicial investigations
for terrorism.
Justice and dignity
When we call for an end to harassment, discrimination at work and housing, and racism on a
daily basis, the public authorities blame it on those of us who do not have fairly white
skin, Do not have a rather "French" name, on the pretext that they have "a problem of
integration"! It is reversing responsibilities, and that is unacceptable.
The solution will not come from the politicians, but from ourselves, and from the
solidarities we have woven.
Whether it is the revolts of the working-class districts, the blockades of the lycee, the
demonstrations, we refuse the criminalization of our struggles. Let us continue to
collectively organize ourselves to build a powerful and combative anti-racist movement. We
will only have what we take!
Demonstration for Adama Traoré, July 29, 2016 in Paris, finally banned.
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?19-mars-Pour-la-justice-et-la
------------------------------
Message: 4
On Friday, March 10 another employee with motorcycle died after being seriously injured at
work since 2 March and was hospitalized in critical condition. Worked in cafes mikel
chain. Only a few days ago, another worker with a motorbike, this time in speedex
distribution company, was killed on the handlebars. ---- The above facts are neither
accidental nor individual. It is the norm of the employment jungle in which the bosses are
indifferent to the lives of the workers aiming to raise maximum profits. Just a few months
ago, a worker was killed on Everest after explosion, another died from exhaustion while
working in a hotel Zakynthos as a maid, and recently, on construction sites Metro
Thessaloniki, another worker pulled dead after the crane tipping over.
The cafe mikel chain is known for the way it treats its employees. There are few reports
of non-compliance with the working conditions for stolen stamps, non-payment of overtime,
etc. Besides, today, in all workplaces, labor "accidents", the lack of safety measures,
the constant blackmail of unemployment with armies of unemployed and underemployed live in
poverty and social exclusion, layoffs, abolition of collective agreements, reductions
wages, low wages and starvation wages, exhausting working conditions and exhausting hours,
the abolition of the Sunday holiday, the employer arbitrariness and hit any form of
association are the factors that make up the labor reality.
Especially for workers with motorbike (courier, nteliverades etc.) The daily reality
consists of continuous-intensive work on the streets (with fuel often pay out of their
pocket), unpaid overtime, often with motorbikes damaged and poorly maintained, without
safety measures and protection.
For our part, we believe that the only way to be able to respond to this attack we are
experiencing is the path of social and class struggles. The way of organizing and
collective action to enforce our rights. Without illusions about individual solutions and
away from reasonable award . The same workers, the unemployed, youth, natives and
immigrants, knowing our real needs, we must take life in our hands, to organize and to
fight collectively self-organized and adiamesolavita in any society and the workplace, in
schools and colleges, workplaces, neighborhoods and streets . With base unions and
workers' initiatives to assert that belongs to us, away from the trade elites who have a
complementary role to the employers.
To connect a couple and-demand games for permanent and stable job for better salary and
better working conditions, access to social goods, housing, healthcare, education, to
defend labor and social rights, for the protection of nature, with comprehensive and
topical social and political demand to overthrow power world and libertarian
transformation of society.
CLASS self-organization and tried to crush THE WORLD OF BOSSES
anarchist group "restive horse" - a member of the Anarchist Political Organisation
------------------------------
Message: 5
In the second half of February and beginning of March 2017 took place in the Belarusian
capital trial of minskými antifascists. To grips with the Nazis, which became the reason
for the prosecution, occurred three years ago. Damage to the case not announced, but the
court in any event. Unduly harsh prosecution request the court came forward and accused
the six got together nearly fifty years' imprisonment. Judgment of minskými antifascists
was announced on March 10 at noon. Previous court hearings have been partly private. ----
The prosecutor asked the accused the following sentences: Andrei Certovicou and Artem
Kravchenko - twelve years imprisonment, Ilya Volovik - ten years imprisonment, Dmitry
Cechanovic - six years imprisonment, Vadim Boyko and Filipp Ivanov - four years. The court
handed down identical sentences, although prosecutors want usually exaggerated
punishments, the court also usually decreases. Ivanova and Cechanovice taken into custody
in the courtroom, and Ilya Volovik Vadim Boyko spent in custody nearly a year, Andrej
Certovicou and Artem Kravchenko even longer. Harshest punishment also received charges for
alleged illegal distribution of drugs.
Brawl between fans of two football clubs minských - Nazis rooting torpedoes and
anti-fascists, who were supporters of Partizan - took place on June 29 2014. Groups of
fans had wished the streets and trolleys. On 10 July 2014 criminal proceedings were
instituted ten people for disorderly conduct. Soon all they arrested and dismissed the
case stopped. In 2016, in connection with the investigation of another case that involved
drugs, anti-fascists case reopened.
Convicted consider the outcome of the judicial process as completely politicized. After
the court hearing was also arrested a man who gave loudly voiced their outrage at the
sentence.
On Sunday, March 5 took place in Brest protest against parasites - those who in the name
of state supervision abused and bullied underprivileged residents. Anarchists in this
social protest became the most visible and most organized group. At their request, the
people have passed through the city streets, chanting slogans and anarchist gave a very
impressive along with a group of people dressed in black showed their decisiveness. A
similar thing for years anywhere in this region did not take place, so the total
Belarusian media scared the whole event commented. It, too, it seems that this action of
anarchists, at least for the moment has become a real social force.
(In the evening, after protests, police arrested several anarchists, and were three
sentenced to five days, and one to four days. The court was to begin this morning, but was
held late in the afternoon, which discouraged people who came to the anarchists to express
solidarity support. He was later arrested another man .)
On the occasion of International Women's Day has published Belarussian anarchist website a
short interview with one of the participants in a protest march, which among other things
said: "When you live in a country where you are constantly subjected to repression,
humiliation, injustice, and you are in a permanent state of despair when it comes to
questions about what do next, how to live with dignity, then I'm not frightened at the
prospect that you'll end up behind bars ... protest actions including a march city, which
is now held in Brest, is a good way to show those who govern us your disagreement,
decisiveness, how to show that we are here, that we hear and know how the situation can
change. "
Resources:
https://avtonom.org/news/sud-nad-antifashistami-minska-shest-obvinyaemyh-poluchili-na-vseh-pochti-50-let-lisheniya
https://revbel.info/2017/03/marsh-netuneyadtsev-v-breste-s-uchastiem-anarhistov/
https://revbel.org/2017/03/brestkim-anarhistam-prisudili-administrativnyj-arest/
https://revbel.org/2017/03/den-zhenshhin-revolyutsionerok/
https://www.afed.cz/text/6624/dvakrat-z-beloruska
------------------------------
Message: 6
Burning barricades, smashed windows, wounded police officers and the general destruction
of several hundred thousand euros. That's the price you paid for the city of Leipzig
trying to prevent neo-Nazis to conduct the rally through the southern part of the city 12
December 2015 year. Used forces: thousands of police, several water cannons and expired
gas grenades. ---- A month later, the same Nazis did what they intended and attacked
Connewitz. Although some have announced their plans on the internet, the German
intelligence warned only against violence on the part of the left. Meanwhile, 200 cars and
drove the Nazis marched through half the district unnoticed by the local police. Finally,
they attacked several shops and bars on the street Wolfgang-Heinze.
March 18, 2017, he again chose Connewitz as a target. As in 2015, the Leipzig branch DIE
RECHTE, with leader Alexander Kurth announced a march through the south of Leipzig
following the concept of "Front City" Christian Worch (in those cities where it has a weak
position must constantly fight for greater visibility and increase the influence, for
example. through demonstrations).
This "courage" of the Nazi scene is on the one hand the result of the right-wing trends in
society, on the other consent of the local authorities on the activity of the Nazis in
Germany.
Connewitz is known as one of the left-wing centers in Saxony, therefore, is a thorn in the
side of the Nazis. January 11, 2016 showed us what they are capable, when the district is
unattended, because of other right-wing rallies in the city center. Therefore, it is
important to convene on March 18 mass mobilizations, filling the streets with protests and
other acts of resistance, making this the most unpleasant day in the life of the Nazis and
their colleagues. We expect that the right wing will spend will be attended by violent
hooligans.
For the better picture you can see photos of Nazis involved in the January attack:
https://le1101.noblogs.org/
Wide and creatively call to action, thousands of people gathered on the streets in
December 2015, which turned out to be a disaster both for the Nazis, as well as the
police. Therefore, we should prepare for the fact that this time there will be more and be
better organized. We need to answer this more protesters and action.
We invite all who may come to Leipzig to join us March 18, 2017. Let us support the
anti-fascist protests on the streets and beyond.
Events calendar: https://www.inventati.org/leipzig/?page_id=4618
NO pasaran!
http://www.rozbrat.org/informacje/miedzynarodowe/4516-18032017-lipsk-nie-przejd
------------------------------
Message: 7
A brief biography of Sabbaths - one of the most tenacious fighters armed resistance
against Franco's fascist regime. Survived longer than many other guerrillas, finally fell
under the bullets Civil Guard in 1960. ---- Francisco Sabaté Llopart (known as "El Quico")
was born on 30 March 1915 Llobregat Hospital in Barcelona. ---- Sabaté Spanish anarchist
union CNT joined in 1931. In 1932, following the events of Fijols, founded the action
group "Los Novatos" (disciples) of the Iberian Anarchist Federation who joined (FAI). The
group took part in the movement insurectionista of 8 December 1933, while in 1935 they
made their first expropriation (robbery) to obtain the necessary funds to help a group of
detainees. ---- 18 and July 19, 1936 in Barcelona fascist rebellion led by General Franco
was defeated and thus marked the beginning of a libertarian revolution and the Civil War.
On August 27, 1936, Sabaté and his brother, José, joined the CNT-FAI column - "young
eagles" who fought on the front in Aragon. End of the war caught in division 26 - Durruti
Column, named after the Spanish anarchist Buenaventura Durruti - who crossed the border
into France.
With the defeat of the republican forces, the Sabbath was imprisoned in concentration
camps at Vernet French and then fought in the French resistance against the Nazis. In 1945
Sabaté continued to struggle in Spain from underground as a member of a major guerrilla
movements, and on August 20, 1945 succeeded in freeing two imprisoned comrades. After that
his group started to target the Franco regime and its supporters, and to rob banks to
finance companies and the resistance movement. On March 2, 1949 killed two leaders of the
Falange fascist movement.
This struggle against tyranny lasted 15 years. "El Quico" became public enemy No. 1 and
turned into a permanent nightmare for the authorities. While many of his companions were
arrested and killed over the years - including his brother Jose in 1949 and another
brother, Manuel in 1950 - Sabaté managed to escape from the traps arranged by police.
On December 30, 1959 crossed for the last time Spain-France border, and on January 5, 1960
he was killed in Sant Celoni of Somaten (a variety fascist Catalan National Guard) and
vigilante after a series of stammering that appear soon out of a Hollywood movie. Four
companions who accompanied him on this trip perished during the events. These were Antonio
Miracle Guitart, 29 years; Rogelio Madrigal Tories, 27; Francisco Conesa Alcaraz, 39; Ruiz
and Martin Montoya, 20 years. "El Quico" still managed to escape, but died a few hours
later from injuries. He was 45 years old.
"We are not thieves, we libertarians from resistance fighters. I took as little now will
help to orphans and feeding starving children of those anti-fascists that you and people
like you and you shot. We are people who never begged for what we deserve, and we never
do. As long as we are able, we will fight for the freedom of the Spanish working class. As
concern you, Garriga though you are a murderer and a robber, I spared, for we as
libertarians appreciate the value of human life, something you have not understood nor
will ever understand. "- Francisco Sabaté Llopart
https://iasromania.wordpress.com/2017/03/14/francisco-sabate-llopart-el-quico-1915-1960/
------------------------------
Message: 8
Shoal Collective investigates the links between the weapons business and the UK
government. ---- Campaigners have announced a day of protest against a controversial
Cardiff event which they say "totally blurs the boundary between government and the arms
trade". ---- DPRTE (Defence Procurement, Research, Technology & Exportability) is to be
held at the Motorpoint Arena on Tuesday 28 March. Although it bills itself as "the UK's
leading defence procurement event", opponents insist it is an arms fair. ---- Last year
six people were arrested during protests against DPRTE and another day of action has been
called for 2017, with the aim of shutting the event down. ---- BAE Systems, whose fighter
jets have been used by the Saudi regime to bomb schools and hospitals in Yemen, as well as
by the Turkish and Israeli states against Kurdish and Palestinian civilians, will be
exhibiting in the "Prime Contractor Village" at Cardiff's Motorpoint.
DPRTE is open about its aims to deepen and increase existing ties between arms businesses
and the government.
These links between the UK state and the weapons industry have come under heavy scrutiny
in recent months, with Prime Minister Theresa May being forced to defend ongoing arms
sales to Saudi Arabia in the face of international criticism.
Event organisers BiP Solutions boast: "With an annual spend of over £19bn on equipment and
services the UK defence sector represents a fantastic opportunity for organisations
looking to supply to this marketplace. DPRTE 2017 will provide a unique opportunity to
gain access to defence procurement buyers".
BiP Solutions, a private company based at Pacific Quay, Glasgow, is deeply embedded within
Ministry of Defence (MOD) operations, running its Defence Contracts Online, through which
all MOD contracts valued at £10,000 and above are advertised. It also publishes the
fortnightly MOD Defence Contracts Bulletin.
Established in 1984 "to facilitate business between the public and private sectors", BiP
Solutions has had a "a sixteen-year relationship" with civil servants at the MOD in London.
A keynote speaker at DPRTE 2017 will be 62-year-old Les Mosco, who was the most senior
procurement professional in the MOD from 2007 to 2014, managing 2,500 staff and directing
the MOD's annual multi-billion pound spend.
Before his seven-year stint at Whitehall, Mosco enjoyed a successful career in the private
sector, with roles at the NatWest banking group, and at the US-based oil and gas business
Amerada Hess, now the Hess Corporation.
Less than a year after leaving the MOD at the end of September 2014, Mosco took up a
position on the Strategic Advisory Board of BiP Solutions.
He also runs his own private company, Commercial Strategies Ltd, of which he is CEO and
director, with his 65-year-old wife Barbara as company secretary. It is registered to the
couple's home in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.
Originally set up in October 2003 as Purchasing Strategies Ltd, its name was changed to
Commercial Strategies Ltd in October 2014, just after Mosco left the MOD.
Mosco's go-between role is no anomaly. The UK government does not hide its links to DPRTE,
with Barry Burton, Director of Corporate Affairs at the MOD's Defence Equipment and
Support organisation, declaring in his 2016 opening speech in Cardiff: "An event like
DPRTE today provides an excellent opportunity for industry professionals to meet with the
MOD's procurement team. The Ministry of Defence wholeheartedly supports this event."
The official event partners listed on the DPRTE website include sections of the MOD like
Defence Equipment and Support, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Defence
Infrastructure Organisation and the Defence Export Service Organisation (DESO), which
promotes arms exports by arms companies based in Britain.
Alongside these government entities sit other event partners whose status is less clear.
One of these, for instance, is Defence Growth Partnership (DGP), which describes itself as
"a partnership between Government and the Defence Industry".
There is also the UK Defence Solutions Centre (UKDSC), which explains on its website that
it is "an established, independent partnership between the UK Government and the UK
Defence Industry".
The UKDSC claims to work with "the best of the defence industry" and names arms companies
such as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Thales, Cobham and BAE Systems as key partners.
Another DPRTE "partner" is Defence and Security Accelerator, a new entity launched in
December 2016 to "help government defence and security departments collaborate with
industry, academia and allies".
Further official event partners at DPRTE entirely represent the interests of the powerful
weapons manufacturing industry.
One of these, ADS, terms itself the "Premier Trade Organisation for companies in the UK
Aerospace, Defence, Security and Space Sectors" and claims to represent 1,000 businesses.(17)
Its website reveals that it acts as a lobbying group, pressuring the government to behave
in ways that benefit its members' interests - which in this case would mean spending more
taxpayers' money on buying weapons.
ADS admits that a key area of its activities is "influencing the policy debates of most
importance to our industries," adding: "ADS plays an instrumental role in bringing
industry and Government together. We also work closely and collaboratively to maintain and
grow the UK as a world leader in our industries."
Working towards similar aims is another DPRTE partner, NDI - Defence, Space, Aerospace,
Security. The arms wing of the manufacturers' organisation EEF, NDI "actively promotes
global business opportunities for its members" and says it provides "policymaking
influence to magnify the voice of the industry and individual companies". Its "global
partners" include BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon.
DPRTE has been attracting protests for several years and was forced to move to Cardiff in
2014 because of public opposition at its original venue in Bristol.
This year the Stop the Cardiff Arms Fair / Na i Ffair Arfau Caerdydd network is
advertising a Day of Action at the Motorpoint Arena in Mary Ann Street, starting at 8am on
28 March 28.
One anti-militarist campaigner said: "This event is unacceptable in so many ways. It
totally blurs the boundary between government and the arms trade and uses taxpayers' money
to promote unethical profiteering in the private sector.
"These ruthless businesses build their wealth on the rubble of schools and hospitals and
on the dead bodies of the children targeted by the weapons of mass destruction they
manufacture and sell across the world.
"DPRTE has no place in Cardiff and the city should be ashamed of hosting these dealers in
death. We call on anyone with a conscience to join us on 28 March to shut down this arms
fair!"
More info on the protests https://blog.caat.org.uk/2017/02/14/stop-the-cardiff-arms-fair-2/
https://southwalesanarchists.wordpress.com/
------------------------------
Message: 9
What is Workers' Self-Management? ---- Workers' Self-Management is exactly what it sounds
like - workers controlling their own workplaces, answering to nobody other than
themselves, and also to their fellow workers. Everybody involved in making the workplace's
decisions is on an equal footing: one person, one vote. This does not mean that every
decision is made collectively. If something only affects one worker, then that worker can
make the decision themselves. However, whenever a decision affects multiple workers, then
all affected have an equal say in deciding things. ---- How would anything get done
without a boss? What is the workplace structure? ---- When you have a boss constantly
telling you what to do, you feel very disempowered at work. Hierarchical management drains
the lifeblood of the worker and leaves them feeling alienated from their job. This is why
people often complain about their jobs. This sense of disempowerment leads to people
being "lazy" and not working as well. Let's face it, nobody likes it when someone else
tells you what to do and you don't have any say in the matter. In the sphere of work, if
you disobey your boss, you are likely to be left without a job.
Contrast this nightmare with workers' self-management. In workers' self-management you
have as much say in how things are run as every other worker. A system of shop floor
direct democracy is implemented in which each worker affected by a decision collectively
decide upon the decision. In small workplaces, this is very easily done by using a simple
collective structure.
In larger workplaces, this can be done very easily by dividing workplaces into
departments. The departments could be divided based on the type of work being done. They
would consist of the teams of workers who work together in day-to-day tasks. Each
department would function similar to a small worker's collective.
A possible structure of a small collective or an individual workgroup/department
http://ideasandaction.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/media-20170315.png
When workplace-wide decisions must be made, a delegate from each department could be sent
to a meeting of all the departments. The delegate would have no power over their
individual department, but would instead convey the wishes of their department as
previously agreed upon by those in it. The delegates would be frequently rotated so that
no one worker could gain too much influence over the others. The decisions of the
delegates are subject to the democratic approval of the workers at the workplace, and in
this way are mandated.
http://ideasandaction.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/media-20170315-1.png
Post navigation
http://ideasandaction.info/2017/03/workers-self-management/
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Message: 10
Aodhan Ó Ríordáin jets off to the States this week to try and crack America with his
unique brand of hypocritical liberalism, trumpeting himself as an anti-racist icon in
contrast to Trump's policies of detention and deportation of undocumented migrants. Tómas
Lynch takes a look at his record on the homefront. ---- Now, after being appointed as a
Senator despite losing his seat in the Dáil in the last election, his denunciation of
Trump's policies as racist has gone viral. As a result he's been invited to take part in
Irish Stand, a St Patrick's Day demonstration against Trump which is being organized by
such serious activist campaigns as Waking The Feminists and Black Lives Matter. ---- But
once you take a moment to look past the grandstanding viral videos and the narcissistic
self-congratulation, at his record in government as Minister of State for the Department
of Justice, his position as migrant justice campaigner and anti-racist starts to look a
hell of a lot less solid.
As a minister in the Department responsible for immigration and the notorious system of
Direct Provision in which people seeking protection and security in this country are kept,
he did little to change the situation. Ireland, along with Lithuania, remains one of only
two countries that do not allow asylum seekers to work while their asylum case is being
processed.
Up until recently people living in Direct Provision weren't able to cook, and are
generally barred from accessing third-level education. Some people have been languishing
in this system for up to ten years, their lives cut off while government ministers do
nothing and then recast themselves as heroes of #TheResistance.
The centres in which people seeking asylum are confined are still run by profiteering
companies that continue to make millions of euro of profit a year, just like the
for-profit deportation and detention centres of the US immigration system that Ó Ríordáin
is such a vocal critic of. And while companies like East Coast Catering rake in the
profits, residents scrape by on €19.10 a week, trapped in isolated centres in rural areas
around the country.
And just like Trump's America, the Irish system Ó Ríordáin presided over was and is a
system of mass deportation. Last year nearly 4,500 people were deported from the state,
back to countries where their lives were at risk.
With regard to the Travelling community, the ethnic group most discriminated against in
Ireland, Ó Ríordáin delivered a blistering oration on their right to be recognized as an
ethnicity back in 2015, and then failed to show up the next day to vote on the subject.
All talk, and not a great deal of action.
When challenged on his inaction Ó Ríordáin gesticulates at a report that was published
criticising the Direct Provision system. If only Trump would just publish a report, while
leaving all his immigration policies intact, we could clap him on the back too as a great
anti-racist.
Out of that report did come some changes, mainly the 2015 International Protection Act.
That Act has been criticized by MASI, a movement of current and former asylum seekers
living in Direct Provision, as only increasing the web of Kafkaesque bureaucracy they are
immersed in.
This new act came into force in January this year and has already had an affect on the
lives of people living in Direct Provision. Under this new act the reunification of
families split up by conflict is made yet more difficult, and asylum applicants, many of
whom have already filled out several such documents, have to fill out a 60-page
questionnaire - the Single Application Procedure.
When residents received the questionnaire they were given an impossible 20 day deadline
and told that failure to meet the deadline would jeopardize their claim. After a fuss was
kicked up, the Department contradicted itself and said that the deadline date was a
guideline only.
With these impossible deadlines and contradictory statements the system seems designed to
manufacture crisis, forcing people to rush through their forms and make simple clerical
errors that could jeopardize their asylum cases and have them deported back to countries
where their lives may be at risk.
The forms are filled with questions that immigration lawyers say are irrelevant to the
asylum application, and seem to be aimed at catching people out. This bureaucratic chaos
is the legacy of Ó Ríordáin's vaunted reform.
While Trump's policies are racist and should be condemned, it is too easy to do as Ó
Ríordáin has done, making a self-congratulatory viral video and washing his hands of the
grim situation of migrants and refugees here in Ireland.
As has been so often pointed out in recent days, the mistreatment and institutionalisation
of people in Direct Provision is something that future generations will be apologising
for, just as this generation apologises for how their parents confined and
institutionalised unmarried mothers and children.
We can, like Ó Ríordáin, remain passively acquiescent, or we can join with the growing
campaigns both within and outside the Direct Provision centres to change the way we treat
migrants in our own country.
Related Link: http://www.rabble.ie/2017/03/15/playing-the-big-man-in-america/
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/30087
------------------------------
Message: 11
Aodhan Ó Ríordáin jets off to the States this week to try and crack America with his
unique brand of hypocritical liberalism, trumpeting himself as an anti-racist icon in
contrast to Trump's policies of detention and deportation of undocumented migrants. Tómas
Lynch takes a look at his record on the homefront. ---- Now, after being appointed as a
Senator despite losing his seat in the Dáil in the last election, his denunciation of
Trump's policies as racist has gone viral. As a result he's been invited to take part in
Irish Stand, a St Patrick's Day demonstration against Trump which is being organized by
such serious activist campaigns as Waking The Feminists and Black Lives Matter. ---- But
once you take a moment to look past the grandstanding viral videos and the narcissistic
self-congratulation, at his record in government as Minister of State for the Department
of Justice, his position as migrant justice campaigner and anti-racist starts to look a
hell of a lot less solid.
As a minister in the Department responsible for immigration and the notorious system of
Direct Provision in which people seeking protection and security in this country are kept,
he did little to change the situation. Ireland, along with Lithuania, remains one of only
two countries that do not allow asylum seekers to work while their asylum case is being
processed.
Up until recently people living in Direct Provision weren't able to cook, and are
generally barred from accessing third-level education. Some people have been languishing
in this system for up to ten years, their lives cut off while government ministers do
nothing and then recast themselves as heroes of #TheResistance.
The centres in which people seeking asylum are confined are still run by profiteering
companies that continue to make millions of euro of profit a year, just like the
for-profit deportation and detention centres of the US immigration system that Ó Ríordáin
is such a vocal critic of. And while companies like East Coast Catering rake in the
profits, residents scrape by on €19.10 a week, trapped in isolated centres in rural areas
around the country.
And just like Trump's America, the Irish system Ó Ríordáin presided over was and is a
system of mass deportation. Last year nearly 4,500 people were deported from the state,
back to countries where their lives were at risk.
With regard to the Travelling community, the ethnic group most discriminated against in
Ireland, Ó Ríordáin delivered a blistering oration on their right to be recognized as an
ethnicity back in 2015, and then failed to show up the next day to vote on the subject.
All talk, and not a great deal of action.
When challenged on his inaction Ó Ríordáin gesticulates at a report that was published
criticising the Direct Provision system. If only Trump would just publish a report, while
leaving all his immigration policies intact, we could clap him on the back too as a great
anti-racist.
Out of that report did come some changes, mainly the 2015 International Protection Act.
That Act has been criticized by MASI, a movement of current and former asylum seekers
living in Direct Provision, as only increasing the web of Kafkaesque bureaucracy they are
immersed in.
This new act came into force in January this year and has already had an affect on the
lives of people living in Direct Provision. Under this new act the reunification of
families split up by conflict is made yet more difficult, and asylum applicants, many of
whom have already filled out several such documents, have to fill out a 60-page
questionnaire - the Single Application Procedure.
When residents received the questionnaire they were given an impossible 20 day deadline
and told that failure to meet the deadline would jeopardize their claim. After a fuss was
kicked up, the Department contradicted itself and said that the deadline date was a
guideline only.
With these impossible deadlines and contradictory statements the system seems designed to
manufacture crisis, forcing people to rush through their forms and make simple clerical
errors that could jeopardize their asylum cases and have them deported back to countries
where their lives may be at risk.
The forms are filled with questions that immigration lawyers say are irrelevant to the
asylum application, and seem to be aimed at catching people out. This bureaucratic chaos
is the legacy of Ó Ríordáin's vaunted reform.
While Trump's policies are racist and should be condemned, it is too easy to do as Ó
Ríordáin has done, making a self-congratulatory viral video and washing his hands of the
grim situation of migrants and refugees here in Ireland.
As has been so often pointed out in recent days, the mistreatment and institutionalisation
of people in Direct Provision is something that future generations will be apologising
for, just as this generation apologises for how their parents confined and
institutionalised unmarried mothers and children.
We can, like Ó Ríordáin, remain passively acquiescent, or we can join with the growing
campaigns both within and outside the Direct Provision centres to change the way we treat
migrants in our own country.
Related Link: http://www.rabble.ie/2017/03/15/playing-the-big-man-in-america/
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/30087
------------------------------
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» Anarchic update news all over the world - 21 March 2017