Today's Topics:
1. Italy, vetrinalibertaria: Anarchist magazines request (it)
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. wsm.ie: Housing is also an anti-finance, anti-capitalist
struggle - Fine Gael Inc (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. [Greece] Video: In Athens, anarchist protest against the war
in Syria on the first day demonstrators were assassinated by
Assad By ANA (pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Ruptura Colectiva (RC): "It is possible to change the
world": Interview-exchange with the community of Cherán K'eri
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. France, Alternative Libertaire - Against the meeting of the
National Front, April 16 in Aubervilliers by AL 94 North , AL
Paris North East (fr, it, pt) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. anarkismo.net - Book Review: Bakunin. Selected Texts
1868-1875 (Edited and Translated by A.W. Zurbrugg) by José
Antonio Gutiérrez D. (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
During the 8th edition of the International Book Fair of Anarchist and Libertarian Culture
that will be held at Obihall Theatre in Florence on 22nd-24th September 2017, we would
like to organize an exhibition of periodicals from the anarchist scene. In this regard, we
invite you to send us a free copy of the latest issue of your magazine (if you publish
any), which will then be displayed during the three days of the event along with many others.
vetrinalibertaria@inventati.org
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Message: 2
What would happen if Fine Gael had a change of heart? What if, having been visited by
three ghosts the night before, Michael Noonan decided to address the misery brought on by
the largest housing crisis in this nation's history? It's an interesting question, but of
course it'll never be answered. Still, thinking about it forces us to consider other
questions. It leads us to a view of modern capitalism and international power relations
which, if more unsettling than Scrooge Fine Gael, is a more solid understanding on which
to build our offensive. ---- The first thing we need to understand is that our dear Mick
Noonan and his blue-shirted brethren are not bumbling around Leinster House, trying to
assist in an issue that is simply beyond them. Equally, they are probably not 24-7
toasting with chardonnay and scorning the working classes. The Irish state, with the
support of the various right wing economic ‘think tanks' on its payroll, and the tacit
support of the EU and its banks, is systematically pursuing an economic policy designed to
inflate house prices nationally. They want house prices to increase. The thousands of
families living in emergency accommodation, the tens of thousands more in mortgage
arrears, and the people barely existing in penury on the streets of our towns and cities,
are just an inconvenient side-effect of the plan. So, why are they doing this?
In the run up to the financial crash of 2008, cheap credit poured out of French and German
banks in search of higher interest rates, which were found in the Eurozone's peripheral
states, notably Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain. Irish banks happily accepted the
loans and lent the cash at higher interest rates to developers who purchased overvalued
land and threw up cheaply built, overpriced housing. When the house of cards came crashing
down, the entire financial system was embroiled in debt.
The neoliberal solution to such a problem? Call in international financial corporations to
buy up the debt! Fine Gael's strategy for demonstrating to international financial markets
that Ireland's banking and property crisis has been solved has been to invite ‘Real Estate
Investment Trusts' (REITs) - also known as Vulture Funds - to buy nationalised properties
through NAMA and to relieve some of the state's debt obligations.
Fundamentally, the Irish state - shaped in the interests of its gombeen ruling class -
aims to transform commonly created housing wealth into profitable revenue streams for
private shareholders and their cheerleading service providers. The condition is that
before they invest, Vulture Funds want increasing house prices to be sure they make
profits. Therefore, clearly the state will not provide social and affordable housing to
meet still growing demand. Unless we resist.
The cure being worse than the disease (probably)
Going back to the opening question: what would happen if Fine Gael abandoned their policy
of sacrificing the Irish people in the interests of the super rich? Or, more likely, if a
left wing Irish government attempted a change of pace, but somehow managed not to be
immediately shut down by the banker-controlled European Troika, like Syriza was? Most
likely at the next hiccup of late-stage capitalism there would be ‘renewed fears' about
Ireland's ability to repay bondholders, interest rates would boom, and the ministers would
be once again boarding planes to Brussels, cap in hand.
What this means is that neoliberal policy is locked-in through Europe and through the
financial markets. So believing we can vote our problems away is a costly mistake.
Grassroots-led housing struggles in Ireland and elsewhere are now a major front in
anti-finance, anti-capitalist struggle - fundamentally in opposition to the underpinnings
of capitalism today.
When housing campaigners occupied Apollo House in December in order to give rough sleepers
a home during the bitter winter, people all across the island were inspired by the ability
of the ‘little people' , like you or me, to defy the powerful and take charge of our
futures. But Apollo House should be seen as one strike back in a long struggle which we
must extend into the future.
This article is from Solidarity Times, April 2017
http://www.wsm.ie/c/housing-anti-finance-anti-capitalist-struggle
------------------------------
Message: 3
On March 18 , a day of remembrance of the first dead of the uprising in Syria in 2011,
assassinated by the Assad regime, there was a protest against the war and in solidarity
with the Syrian people in Athens, bringing together hundreds of people. Next, text
distributed by the "Initiative of anarchists and migrants for internationalist solidarity
to the Syrian revolutionary people". ---- At the beginning of March in 2011, as the Arab
Spring spread widely, influencing uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, 15 teenage students
wrote on the walls of their school in Daraa, Syria: "The people want the regime to fall."
They were immediately arrested, detained and tortured by the secret service and the
police. When their families protested, pleading for the release of their children, the
response they received was threats and insults from none other than the head of Assad's
secret service and cousin, Atef Najeeb, who reportedly told family members to forget their
children and I made others, or else sent their wives that they themselves would take care
of it. On March 15, angry people took to the streets of Daraa, demanding that the children
be released.
The major protests continued during the days that followed, and then on March 18 the
people of Daraa occupied central points in the city, with peaceful protests of permanence.
The army was ordered by the regime to open fire with lethal ammunition against the
demonstrators. 4 people died. Although the first protests were nonviolent, demanding that
teenagers be released, they soon became an insurgency with broad popular participation and
growing tension, with slogans about freedom, dignity, and reform. These protests spread,
and at the same time the repression intensified, increasingly violently by the
authoritarian and neoliberal regime. These facts have led to a growing radicalization of
protesters, who have come to demand the fall of the Assad regime. </ Font>
They were unprecedented demonstrations in Syrian society, and the fear that was
continually imposed by the brutal repression and propaganda of the regime, caused a
political stalemate for decades. Economic inequalities were dominant in the country, with
large economic interests in the hands of the Assad family and its affiliates, high patents
of the army and administration were given almost exclusively to the Alawites
(ethnic-religious group of the Middle East), while the vast majority of the population
Syria - largely living in the countryside - was living in terrible conditions of misery
and oppression. At the same time, although the regime opportunistically supported the
Kurdish struggle for autonomy in Iran and the Tukkland, it systematically and brutally
suppressed the Kurdish people.
A massive and popular uprising for dignity, freedom and justice occurred in Syria, a
country with a totalitarian regime, where talking about political or social issues was
totally banned for decades. The regime responds with brutal repression, aiming to
destabilize the unity of the demonstrators, using religious sectarianism as a tool and
carrying out extremist propaganda, according to which demonstrators appear as inciters of
revolts and terrorists, foreign agents and dangerous fundamentalists. Kidnappings and
torture by the secret police intensified, especially against activists and the more active
part of the insurgency. The army fired lethal ammunition at the demonstrators on a regular
basis at all protests. The refusal of soldiers to follow the order of generals (mostly
Alawites) to shoot civilians led to mass army desertions. The Syrian people revolt.
While popular mass movements continued to increase in intensity, self-organized committees
appeared in the social arena, coordinating resistance and daily life in the liberated
areas. But as violence escalated, armed clashes gradually came out of the hands of the
struggling society and became the responsibility of hierarchical structures of armed
groups with various ideologies and policies, such as the Free Army of Syria and Al Nusra.
In the end, a hard civil war will prevail, during which the old religious and ethnic
differences will prevail and dominate.
We position ourselves critically in solidarity with the Syrian people's revolutionary
fighters, the self-organized and anti-government communities in the neighborhoods, which
continue to resist no matter how hard they have been hit. Against all forms of authority,
against all would-be saviors. Beyond religions and borders.
Money, religions, nations, gender and race have established the boundaries that separate
people. This is why we are against national and religious symbols. We desire equality,
solidarity and total freedom for all. Against all domination and authority, the red and
black flag is a symbol of the lower, and the only symbol we support.
Initiative of anarchists and migrants for internationalist solidarity to the Syrian
revolutionary people
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ectLbbfELpQ
Source: http://www.provo.gr/poreia-allhleggyhs-sto-syriako-lao/
Translation> Yanumaka
------------------------------
Message: 4
At the beginning of 2016, the community of Cherán K'eri planned two events. First was the
traditional Resurrection Festival that would take place during three continuous days. The
festival would include the participation of bands made up of wind instruments and drums,
as well as the participation of symphony ensembles from everywhere in the state of
Michoacán. The other event was the fifth anniversary of the uprising of April 15th, 2011,
a courageous act that would become an experiment with a unique model of community
organization. ---- In the activities in preparation for the festivities, members of the
Communal Goods Council and others that constantly work toward the improvement of the
community received a solidarity caravan of students and different social organizations in
the house of the Council. This opened the space for a conversation regarding the history
of this emancipatory struggle, the synthesis between the cosmovision p'ur'hépecha and the
libertarian spirit that is now written into their uses and customs, the equal
participation of women in the different councils and administrative projects, the use of
direct and rotating democracy in communal elections every three years, the labor of the
community patrol and the forest guards as organs of autonomous security in defense of
territory and nature, as well as different ethnic-political relations that have converted
Cherán K'eri into a living example that gives fear to the minds of the government of
Mexico-and all of its political parties.
These are the results of a very productive interview-exchange.
(By means of introduction): There have been many things of which we have had to fight, but
never realized that this would come out nearly perfect... imagine when you organize, when
one says, "Well lets do this, lets do that", not always do things come out as planned.
However, the situation arose from nothing. For that, we thank all those that have
supported us.
How are the laws in the community of Cherán K'eri governed? Are they governed by the
Mexican Constitution?
F: We have our own rules so that we are secure.
Sebastián: Well yes, effectively we do not know how to leave behind all of the laws that
we have in this country. But equally-like was already said-we are governed by our own
uses and customs, and we legally have our own laws. If someone is caught carrying out
illegal logging, the municipality and the councils operate in a manner according to the
laws of the community.
Here the Council of HJ (Honor and Justice) is that which makes judicial decisions.
Equally, the Major Council does the work of more or less a municipal president determining
the appropriate sanctions. What has come to be the Communal Goods Council derived from
what before was the Communal Goods Representative.
F: Before we were organized in a structure of self-government, there was our "uses and
customs". These are traditional forms of organizing justice that apply punishment to the
people if they are caught carrying out a robbery or whatever type of mischief. They were
exposed in the public plaza, they displayed signs depending on what they were caught
doing. If they were caught carrying out a robbery, a sign would read, "I LIKE TO STEAL".
Well, with their huge signs! What shame they were shown for carrying out this type of
behavior in the community!
All of the people of our municipality have their duty: all are part of our security. There
are no longer people facing this sort of punishment. Now whenever you are seen doing
something wrong, you are denounced: "This person was acting badly", "This person was doing
this", etc.
The uprising in the community responded directly to the illegal logging of the forests,
therefore, it was necessary to reforest them. How did the idea arise of a nursery and
forest-related businesses that increase economic production and care of the environment?
F: It is practically already a "giant nursery". There was the necessity. What we wanted
most was to conserve our natural resources. In it's time, it couldn't be done because we
were against the whole world (referring to the process of rebellion in 2011 and forward).
The government does not respond to what we ask. It is a lie that the merchants denounce a
fire or clandestine logging. We got tired of that, but it wasn't until they were
finishing off our forests, that we began to struggle with our own hands.
We did not care if it was my death, or if it was the death of another compañero. There
were many fallen in that moment. However, we had to see in which manner we could restore
our forests. From there, we began to analyze how we would organize ourselves. Before the
Communal Goods Council, a group was formed we called PIDEF. To us, it seems we are in the
third autonomous government. Little by little we began with the plantation. In the
beginning there were 100,000 plants, now we have around 1,500,000 plants.
We have been collecting seeds from the few remaining forests to be used in the "nursery".
Compost is obtained from the sawmill, the rind is being crushed to be used as a good
substrate, or fertilizer for the plants.
First we wanted to plant and cover areas with sufficient pine trees to restore the forests
and then ask ourselves: "what is good for us and what isn't?". This is work that is being
carried out little by little.
What type of support have you had on part of NGO's, forest engineers and different
associations in terms of the care and preservation of the territory?
We have had a lot of support. The people of the community have made it clear that they
like to work. That is what is important for some of the organizations that are focused on
nature. Those that help us do not only believe in us, but we have shown results. Our
compañero Roberto has been participating in many works of reforestation, he has a lot of
information in that regard.
Roberto: The government has shown support from he beginning. In December 2015, a Chinese
academic organization gave us a prize for our insurrection and for our care for nature.
Yes, we have received various rewards for our care of our forests and territory. We
accept the support of these organizations because they care about the environment, not
only in our territory, but also throughout the majority of the world. In these times of
climate change, the devastation of a forest is something that is very complex. If we
continue forward, we will create a better world.
F: There is an agreement with CONAFOR-National Forest Commission-of 853,000 plants. We do
the production and a certain amount of plants are destined for our community. They have
aspirations in other communities with sharing plants, principally in the rainy seasons.
Roberto: The forest organization (...) they are participants in this project. Part of the
nursery is sold to them and they distribute the trees in all parts of the country. We
have a lot of influence on a national level through the nursery.
What is the role and importance of the political/ organizational aspects of women in
Cherán K'eri and its different projects?
F: In the Major Council, which is like if there was a "presidential" organ, we have three
active women. In the Communal Goods Council there are also three women. Their role is
the same that is given to us men. They go to the mountain with us, carrying out security
and supervision of the work there. One is the treasurer of the nursery; the other two
women are involved with questions of Communal Affairs (one as president and the other as
secretary). They have been involved in all of the activities.
There is a Council of Women, which works to increase opportunities for women. Why is this
important? When the uprising took place, it was thanks to the influence and action of
women. We were there to back them up.
They say, "Do not make a women angry because when she is angry" (...). We try to ensure
equality and respect towards women.
After the removal of the political parties in 2011, then began the use of direct democracy
as a tool of struggle and organization. How was this process developed and organized
amongst the people, and what do you think of the rotation of communal roles?
F: There is a coordinator of each one of the barricades/bonfires in our community. Each
one of these zones discusses in which manner they want to organize, of whom to elect. For
these positions an invitation is released regarding what is to be done and what position
is to be occupied. It is done like that, in that manner. Like now, we are in an assembly
and we say "Let's see, it's your turn" or "There is so-and-so, or such and such a person".
Afterwards, we move forward, we raise them to the seats, we form ourselves, and whoever
has the most votes is who wins. We all think that consensus is a commitment with our
community to carry out the things in the best way possible, to avoid the potholes that the
previous compañeros fell into, to fix them. What we do poorly, the compañeros that come
afterwards try to solve. It is a constant political follow-up.
We think that in our assemblies, at least at some time, all of us will have the
opportunity to hold a position. "You don't criticize. When you are in the position you
do it in a better way". This type of government gives you the possibility of holding a
position, not because you are better, but because that is how we think: we are all equal.
With or without the profession, whether women or man, all of us can participate, we all
have the capability, not because we have studies or we have a career. Here the people
want to work and help improve the community, obviously not 100% can because that is very
complicated. However, we try to make it happen.
J: What you are saying is important. Cherán is the heart of the P'ur'hépechas. Our
grandparents gave us their knowledge and values. Why? Because here we respect women and
children, and we do not lack respect for our elders. In the city, all of this is very
distant. It doesn't exist.
When there is an aggression toward another person, it is dealt with in a manner so as to
not exacerbate the problem. Here we favor love between the people, amongst the community.
When one leaves the community and they identify themselves as someone from the
community, I don't know how or in what sense, but there is an energy that says, "Ah
so-and-so is from Cherán!", and they pass you a feeling from the attraction of the
P'ur'hépecha blood.
Our ancestors have taken care of the forest for 800-900 years, so that a person would come
and continue the care. That is love that the compañero mentions.
F: The feelings are most rooted in the things that we have, things that our grandparents
gave us as inheritance, that part is very sacred. It does not have the value of all of
the work that they carried out, when one day you don't have it.
J: Cherán always has resisted. Historically they have tried to conquer Cherán and they
couldn't. When the Spanish arrived, they only conquered the community for ten years. The
root is from below. From that root Cherán has risen, and it has allowed us to no longer
be dependent on the government.
F: Cherán has been the heart of the plateau and is those who have always risen up in arms.
Besides the uprising of April 15th, 2011, we have already had others, like against the
bandit Inés Chávez who committed much barbarism. In those times, not only was Cherán
saved, but also was the neighboring communities.
Cherán K´eri signifies "big", "Big Cherán", therefore the people have said: "we want to be
like Cherán". We do not admit people from the outside. We do not sell our land to those
from outside. We all know each other. Whatever one is doing we say, "Well, he is from
that family, tell his family!" This is the part of the communication and organization
that makes things easier for us.
In the city, who knows each other? An example: when I was studying in the University of
Morelia we were robbed. They stole from our house. We went and we denounced the actions,
and in the questions that were asked of us: "And who was it?, "How did it happen?" And
we said if we knew we would have already searched for them. These things are examples of
the lack of communication.
In various resistance movements across the world, people have come to see Cherán K'eri as
a referent of autonomous organization. What message would you give to the compañeros of
the world?
This is quite delicate. Sincerely, if this does not function or something happens...
seeing that the community police-self-defense groups-when they existed they were leaving
the hands not only of the indigenous peoples, but in various regions of Michoacán.
We have a clear posture: try to be more "intelligent" than "the intelligent", the
government is very clever, "play at your own risk".
Roberto: It is very important to touch on those themes. We have had relations with the
communities that also are experiencing dispossession of their territory by the large
transnational corporations, who want to appropriate their minerals, waters, rivers, create
new hydroelectric dams. Where we have been involved, we have always said, "let's unite
together", some of them have said to us, "LET'S CHERANIZE MÉXICO!". It is possible, but
it is delicate like the compañero said because we don't have all the answers. For
example, "how are we going to do things?" We say to the rest of the communities that they
have our support and that it is possible to generate a radical change regarding the
current government, toward a type of government that benefits us all.
They feel the same because we know it is possible for our Mexico. In other countries they
are wanting to retake this part, and seeing us as en example we want to say, "Not one step
back!". We will go to where we have to go.
We didn't have an idea of where we were when we started the uprising. The only thing we
wanted was to rescue our people. However, the organization that we had previously gave us
the blueprints. We say to them that they can. We can organize ourselves as communities,
as students, until we can create a better social economy.
J: What allowed us to grow was the organization; that was fundamental. Wherever it is, a
group reaches what a person cant because he has a limit, a group carries out many things
and is the part that made it worth it for us: to be together and to not separate.
The community patrol was converted into an organ of autonomous security when the municipal
police were expelled. How is it organized and what are its principal ethics?
F: The Community Round (RC) is directly linked to the Major Council. We have knowledge of
how the security work is done. Its elements are native to the community. There aren't
people from outside the community. They are people that have good-or more or less
good-behavior. They have their training programs where they go, they try to learn
defense-like how to act in dangerous situations. The community patrol is drug free and
has its own rule. For example, the people that are not acting well are asked to take a
rest or let go.
Roberto: In order to arrive to the model of security that we have now, we built from the
foundations of our ancestors. They saw the importance of security more than punishment,
the act of care. When they saw people late at night, they said to them: "we can accompany
you to your house so that nothing bad happens".
The election of the RC-because we were organized by neighborhoods-selected five people
from each neighborhood, that are good people, who don't have any vices and that obviously
have respect. With that case, the RC was created.
One of the principle values of wanting to belong to the RC-or to whichever of our
councils-is to serve, far from seeking an incentive or seeing it as an investment, the
principle objective is to serve the community. This is how the participants are chosen
and how it is formed.
In fact, it was attempted in other communities, but the idea failed because they were like
projects of the state. They lacked a clear vision of what was wanted, like the vision we
have to serve the people themselves.
J: The forest guards are something that we do ourselves as the Communal Goods Council. We
are protecting-with the same function-but in the forest. If they see a person that is
doing something inadequate, he is invited to stop these actions and like that, they learn.
This has functioned for us very well, but it is different than RC.
When it gets stronger, the forest guards and the RC join. They can be put in the same tune.
***
To finalize this dialogue and sharing of experiences, the compañeros solicit all of the
participants to shout in unison the following slogans:
CHERÁN LIVES, THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!
CHERÁN, NOT ONE-STEP BACK!
The people leave.
The doors close.
The memory will be immanent.
Original text in spanish:
http://rupturacolectiva.com/si-es-posible-cambiar-al-mundo-entrevista-comparticion-con-la-comunidad-de-cheran-keri/
http://rupturacolectiva.com/it-is-possible-to-change-the-world-interview-exchange-with-the-community-of-cheran-keri/
------------------------------
Message: 5
RDV April 16 to 14h in Aubervilliers, metro Quatre-Chemins and demonstration to Paris 19
th -Stalingrad. ---- To close this nauseating and surreal electoral campaign, the National
Front is holding its Parisian meeting on Monday, April 17th at the Zenith. The FN program
is only an aggravation of what we are already undergoing. It is only a question of
restrictions on the rights and freedoms of each individual: Challenging social rights, the
rights of workers, women and immigrants ; Banalisation and amplification of the state of
emergency, racism and Islamophobia. ---- We therefore call each and every one to join the
demonstration ---- on Sunday April 16, 2 pm, ---- Aubervilliers, Quatre-Chemins metro ----
The FB event is here ---- First signatories: ---- AFA, La Horde, Siamo, Solidaires-Paris,
Sud Education Paris, Solidaires RATP, DAL, Rights before !!, FTCR. (Tunisian Federation
for Citizenship des deux Rives) Fasti Paris Collectif Paris 20 th Solidarity with all
migrants, Collectif 19 March Paris18, The Voiceless-Paris18, out of colonialism,
Alternative Libertaire, CSP 75 / CISPM, CUAFA Paris 20 E (Antifascist and Antiracist Unity
Collective), Integration21 ...
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Contre-le-meeting-du-Front-National-le-16-avril-a-Aubervilliers
------------------------------
Message: 6
Although the 20th century may have seemingly signalled the eclipse of libertarian forms of
socialist thought under the bureaucratic weight of ‘real socialism', Bakunin views are an
urgent reminder of what socialism could be. His voice, in spite of some antiquated
expressions, resonates a hundred and a half years later with the same vital energy. ----
Bakunin. Selected Texts 1868-1875 (Edited and Translated by A.W. Zurbrugg), Anarres
Editions -Merlin Press, 2016, 310 pp. ---- Mikhail Aleksandrovic Bakunin (1814-1876) is a
towering figure of the revolutionary ideas and a key figure to the development and
expansion of socialist thought in the world at the end of the 19th century. Recently, we
commemorated the 200th anniversary of his birth, yet he remains an underappreciated
revolutionary thinker and activist, best known for his polemics with Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels in the early 1870s.
There are already some great compilations in the English language of his work, to be sure.
Among this, we can find Sam Dolgoff's ‘Bakunin on Anarchism' and G.P. Maximoff's ‘The
Political Philosophy of Bakunin: Scientific Anarchism'[1]. Both of them provide a splendid
recollections of excerpts from some of his key writings and put them in the context of his
revolutionary trajectory (Dolgoff) or in the context of the system of ideas he developed
in the final decade of his activities (Maximoff). Since the quality of both compilations
is of such a high standard, it is no idle question to wonder why Merlin Press has edited a
new collection of essays of Bakunin, instead of bringing us a re-edition of some of the
old compilations.
First of all, the need of a new edition on Bakunin is justified in the fact that his ideas
have been largely ignored if not misrepresented in the English-speaking world. Apart from
‘God and State' and ‘State and Anarchy', most of Bakunin's writings are incredibly
difficult to find. Most of his actual ideas, are largely ignored even by libertarian
socialist activists. As a matter of fact, most of Bakunin's texts were developed in the
context of a feverish revolutionary activism during most of his life time, lacking the
systematic approach of other revolutionary thinkers of his time. The lack of a systematic
body of text, does not equal lack of systematic thinking, however, as Maximoff already
proves in this compilation. This collection includes some documents which appear in
English for the first time, many of which were extremely influential for the radical
movements of European countries such as Italy, Switzerland, Spain and France. This reason
alone should suffice for us to welcome this new addition to the existing bibliography on
Bakunin in English language.
Secondly, this new edition is in tune with the growing view of Bakunin as someone who
‘helped define gradually emerging forms of revolutionary, libertarian or anarchist
socialism. It was not so much that he invented new ideas, rather he helped organise and
shape a new form of political thinking' (p.2). Much of this new way of thinking was being
expressed in various, sometimes contradictory forms, in the context of the International
Workingmen's Association (IWA), this broad coalition of workers of various languages,
traditions and persuasions which was to dominate the political landscape of the
progressive forces between the 1860s to the 1870s, at least in Europe. This edition is not
only providing us with a selection of letters, lectures, articles and speeches -which are
the ways in which most of his work is to be found-, but it also does so in the particular
context of Bakunin's participation in the workers' movement in the period of 1868 to 1875.
The dates chosen exclude some of the early libertarian writings of Bakunin for the period
1864-1867, a period whose importance was captured in both ‘Bakunin and the Italians' of
T.R. Ravindranathan (1978) and in the first chapters of ‘Italian Anarchism, 1864-1892' of
Nunzio Pernicone (1993) as being critical in the genesis of his libertarian thought.
Rather, this careful selection of A.W. Zurbrugg focuses on the writings for the period
when he joins formally a section of the IWA in Geneve until the time he dies. This period
is witness to the full maturation of his ideas in the context of his interactions with a
broader movement. It is in the context of this movement that anarchist socialism would
eventually become articulated into a consistent thought/praxis. The image we get of
Bakunin in this book is less so that of the ‘Father of Anarchism', as he has often been
dubbed, and more so that of an ‘orchestra director', bringing together different players
into a coherent force.
A third reason why this is a timely and justified edition, is the careful annotations
around the texts, the prologues to each one of the documents and the fascinating
introduction which puts Bakunin rightly in his context. The texts are also organised along
chronological lines, to give a sense of how his thought evolved in the context of the
development of a libertarian current within the IWA. He was not writing from an intemporal
and ahistorical bubble. Bakunin's writings often make full sense if read in the light of
the polemics and debates that he took part in, which were also part of a broader context
and developments. He wrote to workers and socialists of his time, taking for granted a
number of references that would escape most modern readers. Many of his expressions and
ideas, taken out of this particular context (such as his supposed apoliticsm), can be
misguiding. Most of his ideas were not the product of any idle musings, but came about
under the need to react to the pressing needs of his time, in the midst of a struggle
without quarters against the system of exploitation which was consolidating under the
triumphant emergence of the modern State and capitalism since the outbreak of the
republican revolutions in the late 18th century.
The fourth and most powerful of reasons to publish this new edition, is that the ideas in
this book represent a most useful resource to people in the struggle for a better world in
the present times. Although Bakunin was an offspring of his time and a proper
understanding of his ideas cannot be divorced from his context, his ideas are full of
useful insights for our present and the strength of his convictions still manage to
inspire us in the 21st century. In one way or another, his untamed egalitarian and
libertarian outlook is now more relevant than ever, if we manage to understand the basic
premises of his thought as opposed to reproducing old formulae. It is this urgency and
relevance which make Bakunin's words uncannily prophetic. In ‘God and State', he claimed
that ‘History then appears to us as the revolutionary negation, now slow, apathetic,
sluggish, now passionate and powerful, of the past. It consists precisely in the
progressive negation of the primitive animality of man by the development of his humanity.
(...)
Whence it results that the antiquity of a belief, of an idea, far from proving anything in
its favour, ought, on the contrary, to lead us to suspect it. For behind us is our
animality and before us our humanity; human light, the only thing (...) that can
emancipate us, give us dignity, freedom, and happiness, and realise fraternity among us,
is never at the beginning, but, relatively to the epoch in which we live, always at the
end of history. Let us, then, never look back, let us look ever forward; (...) If it is
justifiable, and even useful and necessary, to turn back to study our past, it is only in
order to establish what we have been and what we must no longer be, what we have believed
and thought and what we must no longer believe or think, what we have done and what we
must do nevermore' (New York: Dover, 1970, p.21).
Although the 20th century may have seemingly signalled the eclipse of libertarian forms of
socialist thought under the bureaucratic weight of ‘real socialism', Bakunin views are an
urgent reminder of what socialism could be. His voice, in spite of some antiquated
expressions, resonates a hundred and a half years later with the same vital energy. As
such, this book is not so much an attempt to better understand the ideas of a socialist
thinker of the past, as it is to explore the possibilities of an alternative socialist
future through the ideas developed by a broad movement of which Bakunin became a centre of
gravity. Indeed, some of the new trends in progressive thinking -such as the insistence on
direct democracy and the rejection of authoritarian styles of leadership- were pioneered
by this broad movement over a century ago -it may be surprising for some readers, how
contemporary some of the concerns and inclinations expressed in this volume sound. Given
the scale of the multiple crises looming over our world, this is a book that anyone
interested in a viable future for humanity, regardless if s/he identifies or not as
anarchist, ought to read.
José Antonio Gutiérrez D.
22nd March, 2017
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/30157
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