Today's Topics:
1. The modern-day Filipino anarchists working for the common
good By CNN MEDIA (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. AGAINST THE REPRESSION OF THE ARGENTINE STATE by Brazilian
Anarchist Coordination -- OUR SOLIDARITY FOR FIGHTERS (ca, fr,
it, pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. US, ABOUT THE REVOLUTIONARY ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT By A.N.A.
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. France, Alternative Libertaire AL September 2017 - Labor law
XXL: First round of a long battle (fr, it, pt) [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
These anarchists' ideology is about the belief that humans are wired to pursue the common
good, regardless of an authority figure. From left: Bas Umali, Chuck Baclagon, Ron Solis,
Fread de Mesa, and Taks
Barbin.http://cnnphilippines.com/incoming/60fgm3-cnnphilippineslife-anarchists-Photo-53.jpg/alternates/FREE_480/cnnphilippineslife-anarchists-Photo-53.jpg
Photo by JL JAVIER ---- Manila (CNN Philippines Life) — A blue, mini gas tank with a
cooking dock sits on the corner of Taks Barbin’s living room. He turns the knob, put a
water-filled kettle on top of the dock, and opens foldable plastic chairs, forming a
circle. This living room is a modest extension of his bedroom; a space that makes up a
part of the interconnected shanties that snake around one of UP Diliman’s side streets.
“Karamihan [ang] tawag dito ‘infoshop,’ a place na pwede kang mag-share ng information,”
says Barbin while pointing towards the other side of his living room — a corner neatly
crammed with worn-out books, original and photocopied zines, and indigenous musical
instruments. The wooden sign above this corner reads “Safehouse Infoshop,” with the
capital letter ‘A’ enclosed in an illustration of a detonating bomb.
Barbin, a student of UP’s Malikhaing Pagsulat sa Filipino program, pours the hot water to
two brown mugs and gives the other one to Bas Umali, a long-haired Uber driver dressed in
a T-shirt with the words “In Defense of Autonomy” running across it. Bas, like Taks, also
runs his own ‘infoshop,’ called Onsite, headquartered in the slums of Muntinlupa where
they publish zines that discuss the solutions to the rampant flood in the area.
" The same [is] the typical behavior of the infoshops - make publication, [those done us ]
about the flood, the attacker [also] we in local politicians . Elections, also co- conduct
we anti-election to campaigns, "he says.
The Safehouse Infoshop is a space in UP Diliman where anarchists share books and zines
about disaster communism, critical thinking as an anarchist weapon, and
community-organizing, among many others. Photo by JL JAVIER
A closer look at the piles of literature at the Safehouse reveals some of the written
works by social activists and anarchist writers Errico Malatesta and John Zerzan, as well
as manifestos on disaster communism, critical thinking as an anarchist weapon, and
community-organizing — materials that could deepen the knowledge on a controversial
philosophy: anarchism.
The ‘infoshops’ that Barbin and Umali separately started serve as a resource center where
people within their communities can come in and share skills and solutions to problems
specific to their community. It is also a place where anarchists convene to discuss
political philosophies and the ways in which they can come together to further a certain
cause — from promoting urban gardening to disrupting pork barrel.
Every year since 2014, during the Philippine president’s State of the Nation Address,
their network of anarchists gather at the Quezon City Memorial Circle to hold a ‘peaceful
protest.’ They call it Sining, Kalikasan, Aklasan, a day-long guerilla event where they
share the many skills and solutions being done in their respective communities; solutions
that need not come from any type of political leader.
"I've experienced the working class life. Nothing will happen until you get older, as long
as you die. "- Ron Sison
" Here are practical solutions to the problems we face . They do not [anarchists] claim .
... 'Those activities do not claim that we can only do this , that we are the founder or
vanguard or pioneer of this practice ... There are those things, maybe before. The old
school we call [them], "says Barbin.
Umali fiddles with his phone while explaining how this "new school" of anarchists works. "
No recruitment, no organization here. ... But it does not mean we're disorganized , it
does not mean that we're alone , "he says, almost contradicting himself in one breath.
"Organized us in a way that voluntary 'sa process of support or organize ourselves and
subject it to ourselves - what we can bet , to commit time, the resources, and so on, " he
says. " It's not you to be an activist, you will join the LSF [Libertarian Socialist
Federation] ... like Bonifacio, then you are patriotic? That's not how it is , "Umali
adds, while mimicking historical revolutionaries of the Philippines that slash their
wrists in the name of solidarity.
"Here are practical solutions to the problems we face," says Taks Barbin, anarchist and a
student of UP Diliman's Creative Writing in Filipino program Photo by JL JAVIER
A seaman for five years prior to being a ‘full-time anarchist’, Ron Solis spends his time
volunteering for environmental organizations like Greenpeace and 350. Photo by JL JAVIER
The misconception about anarchism
The anarchist that the general public has come to picture is more than a revolutionary
fighting for its country; they’ve been portrayed as groups of people in all-black
ensembles with ski masks and baseball bats in tow, ready to smash the nearest glass
window. The term is often equated to chaos in the streets, the police stopping ‘rebels’
with riot shields and fire extinguishers.
This picture that circulates within the public’s modern consciousness was purportedly due
to the highly mediatized World Trade Organization protest in Seattle in the ‘80s. These
men with faces covered in handkerchiefs are called Black Bloc anarchists, a sect of
anarchism whose main method of protest is property destruction.
Umali, a then-leftist turned anarchist, explains that within the anarchist network, people
do various things to push for what they want. Some anarchists’ mode of protest may be
simply giving out things in what they call a ‘free market,’ while others, like the Black
Bloc anarchists, do take a more ‘violent’ route.
Bas Umali, a then-leftist turned anarchist, declares himself as an anarchist primarily
because of political necessity; not wanting to be confused for being a Marxist. Photo by
JL JAVIER
" Their focus is that you destroy those symbols of oppression , of capitalism, so it's
often the victim of Starbucks, McDonalds. 'Those big corporate symbols, that's what they
are dealing with ,' says Umali.
After the rage of riots in the U.S. in the ‘80s, Umali witnessed that a more politicized
punk scene in the Philippines suddenly started to take root. “Kasi dati, yung mga 1980s na
punk, mas cultural ‘yun eh. … Sex Pistols na anarchy ‘yun. Karamihan sa kanila, mas
na-o-organize pa ng Left,” he says. “Pero mga 1996, diyan na nagsulputan na nililinaw ng
mga indibidwal na ito na hindi sila Marxist, hindi kami leftists, kami ay mga anarchists.”
The motivations of Filipino anarchists
The sound of multiple footsteps stepping on twigs and dead leaves starts getting louder.
Fread de Mesa, a man in dreadlocks and tunnel earrings, knocks on the door of Barbin’s
living room. “Tokhang, tokhang,” he teasingly whispers. Behind him is Chuck Baclagon, in a
gray button-down wearing a cap that resembles Che Guevara’s military beret, and Ron Solis,
wearing a half-grown beard and a necklace with a Baybayin pendant.
Together they complete the chairs Barbin arranged in a circle. One by one, the newly
arrived anarchists start sharing what attracted them to the anarchist scene, despite all
that it is generally perceived of it.
" 'My involvement with the anarchists, began in the church . ... call them Mennonite and
Anabaptists then the church's tradition today is more in accord with justice and peace
matters. May when anti-authoritarian also nature, "says de Mesa, still an active member of
Peace Church Philippines, instantly breaking the image of the stereotypical one churchgoer
with conventionally imagine.
"They do not believe in the absolute power of the State. Only the allegiance is not in the
state or in the president, but in [Jesus Christ]," says Fread de Mesa, a member of the
Peace Church Philippines and an anarchist. Photo by JL JAVIER
Chuck Baclagon got involved with the anarchist network through his work with 350.org, an
international environmental NGO that fights to eradicate the use of fossil fuels. Photo by
JL JAVIER
" Nearly lot they shared value system of the anarchists. They do not believe in the
absolute power of the State. Just those allegiance is not to the state or the president ,
but [that with] Jesus Christ, the broader church, and in the community, "he adds.
Baclagon, on the other hand, got involved with the anarchist network through his work with
350.org, an international environmental NGO that fights to eradicate the use of fossil
fuels, among others. "Whatever you do with an activity or campaign with respect to the
reduction of emissions, what's that, is 350 most likely ... There are also so many in the
anarchist community,"
Baclagon says.
"You can not act because you can not do it right now. If you did not act because you did
not do it, nothing changed. "- Chuck Baclagon
While de Mesa and Baclagon are still within civic society organizations, Solis has stopped
working altogether. A seaman for five years prior to being a ‘full-time anarchist’, he
spends his time volunteering for environmental organizations like Greenpeace and 350.
" 'When you work on it, you're still in the system. That's the problem . Do yourself a
favor . Make your own strategy , "Solis says. " That -Experience I'm working class to life
. Nothing will happen until you get older, as long as you're dead, at [lower] than
[lowest] . "
The difference between the far Left and anarchism
The group exchanges personal stories of how they found anarchism or how anarchism found
them; their insights reek of the anti-establishment, anti-authoritarian ethos that seems
to bind them all. Their discussions are heavy on turning their backs to consumerist
practice, from exploring ways to start farming in their own backyard instead of buying in
the supermarket to employing themselves instead of submitting to a manager.
On the surface, it looks as if their motive to subvert capitalism is no different from the
far Left.
" Actually , that's the reason why I did de declare that anarchist me. Just because I have
no need to say that anarchist I ... To me, political necessity is declaring I anarchist .
As far as Left has dominated her , she says that their revolution is just what the Left
says , "Umali explains.
He goes into detail of where this confusion between anarchism and communism may come from.
He says that the many variations of the Left usually extract their ideologies from
Marxism, and anarchism may have been a byproduct of this as well.
Ideologies, beliefs, and countercultures tend to enter society in waves. Umali believes
that they can keep their culture alive so long as they leave materials for the next wave
of Filipino anarchists to come. Photo by JL JAVIER
" Became Marxist-Lennist, became Maoist. So if you notice, anarchy him , he would not be
attached to the name. Unlike Marx, you know who his leader is , you know who Lenin, Mao,
or who are the Bolsheviks, "he continued. " There is no ownership [the anarchy]. ' Yun'
what Taks said earlier , we are also doing [in infoshop], this is also recognition that
our ancestors did before . Sowho are you to possess and tell you, 'We are doing this?' "
The conversation on political philosophies amplifies, as they simultaneously mention the
‘failed’ socialist and communist governments of China, Germany, and Russia. Baclagon
further clarifies this assumed misperception between anarchism and the Left. He goes deep
into challenging Karl Marx’s First International, the federation of working class men who
swore to end the dominant economic system and replace it with cooperative ownership. He
explains the failings of the mode of production narrative, and cites the teachings of
Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin that says that Marxism will just breed another form of
dictatorship.
"Because I have no need to tell you anarchist I ... To me, political necessity is to defer
me anarchist." - Bas Umali
Despite the flaws of the Left, Umali, a former member of Kabataang Makabayan, a leftist
group founded by Communist Party of the Philippines leader Jose Maria Sison, acknowledges
the organization’s genius in systematically drilling communist ideologies into his then
young, impressionable brain. He says that leftists have a knack for articulating the goal
of the movement; a trait that he thinks anarchism still lacks. But Umali questions the
ways of the Left, particularly the Protracted People’s War, a political revolution
strategy developed by Mao Zedong.
" Why are we so patriotic that we are communists? It's really oxymoron eh. That was where
I was first in doubt . Then I questioned those Protracted People's War. Perhaps our nature
is in vain, we can still fight the war , "he recalls.
A capitalist world
It might still be perplexing to some to see these anarchists in a circle, with urban
shacks as the backdrop, fiercely discussing the ‘anti-isms’ of society, all the while
knowing that Umali drives a tangerine Vios as an Uber driver and de Mesa still
participates in one of the biggest organized systems in the world — religion.
" 'In history, the role of Jesus Christ is the chinallenge of the State. Chinallenge is
the Roman empire in another lifestyle, "de Mesa explains. " We learned that we are seeing
more Jesus in the anarchists. ... They'm doing feeding the hungry, visiting the sick ...
Done basic ' s self-agency. Terrific those being recognized when capacity of the
individual to contribute to the good of the majority. "
The anarchists' discussion are heavy on turning their backs to consumerist practice, from
exploring ways to start farming in their own backyard to employing themselves instead of
submitting to a manager. Photo by JL JAVIER
But how does an anarchist thrive in a society where every single move is powered by
consumerist dogmas? When asked how they settle this tug-of-war of opposing ideologies,
Baclagon is quick to come to their defense. “Hindi naman pwedeng hindi ka kikilos dahil
hindi mo siyang magagampanan ng tuluyan eh. Kasi kung hindi ka kumilos kasi hindi mo siya
nagampanan, walang nabago,” he says.
For these anarchists, while they may come from different interest groups, they all form
the same basic principles of ‘true’ anarchism: that anarchism values the capacity of the
individual to organize itself; that anarchism sees the role of the individual as a tool
that contributes to a larger community; that anarchism is about mutual aid, directly
helping any soul in need; and that anarchism is about the belief that humans are wired to
pursue the common good, regardless of an authority figure.
" I'm afraid, I'm not going to take it on lifetime [the vast anarchism.] ... I think the
most co-contributors are to leave a lot of material ," Umali says, as he briefly sizes up
the corner of Barbin's living room awash with shelves and shelves of anarchist materials,
lying in wait for another wave of people to enter the scene, quietly asserting their
rightful existence.
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Message: 2
Santiago Maldonado has been missing since August 1 of this year. In support of the
struggle of the native peoples, the young craftsman participated in a lock of "Ruta 40",
highway that connects Argentina to Chile. The site is near Cushamen, in the province of
Chubut, where the Mapuche¹ have undertaken a resumption of land under the control of the
multinational company Benetton. The protest called for the freedom of Facundo Jones Huala,
an indigenous leader, currently imprisoned in Argentina, and challenged the extradition
request made by the Chilean government that wants to try him and condemn him as a
terrorist. The blockade of the highway was severely repressed by the "Gendarmería
Nacional" (Argentine Military Force), which arrived firing at the demonstration; Santiago
was last seen being taken by the violent hands of the state while trying to flee the attack.
Since then the mobilizations in support of the Mapuche people and the appearance of
Santiago have intensified throughout the country, even reaching solidarity movements in
Chile. Added to them were also the mobilization against the "Easy Trigger", an expression
used by the Argentines to denote the recurrent abuse of police force; other expressions
that mark the popular struggle, such as the "First Shoot, Then Ask," demonstrate how the
Argentine government invests against the poor while doing the security of those above.
Ontem pela manhã, no dia 31 de agosto, um dia antes de completar um mês de seu
desaparecimento e um dia antes da marcha nacional convocada pela aparição com vida de
Santiago, diversas organizações foram perseguidas e tiveram seus espaços invadidos pela
polícia argentina, em Córdoba e Buenos Aires. Foram diferentes espaços e centros culturais
de organizações políticas e sociais, sendo: a Biblioteca Popular de Villa la Maternidad,
Casa 1234, Espaço Social e Cultural Ateneo Anarquista no Bairro Guemes, Kasa Karacol da
Federação de Organizações de Base (FOB), a sala de jantar da Frente de Organizações em
Luta (FOL), sede do Partido Obrero e Movimiento Socialista de los Trabajadores (MST).
Todas essas organizações têm em comum o fato de terem participado da 3ª Marcha Nacional
Contra o Gatilho Fácil na segunda-feira passada. A perseguição política deixou seu
objetivo bem evidente ao confiscar, entre outros materiais, bandeiras, faixas e
instrumentos para prejudicar a marcha de hoje (01 de setembro) pela aparição de Santiago
com vida, que ocorreu e com maiores ações repressivas do Estado Argentino. Reforçamos o
pedido de liberdade para os detidos unicamente por lutar!
Where is Santiago Maldonado? Where is the Amarildo?
In Argentina or Brazil, the police and military forces the security of businessmen and
landowners, already accustomed to carrying blood-soaked hands from those below. The
Argentine state fires without hesitation against the natives and the poor population like
the Brazilian State and many others. There are several political disappearances in
Argentina and throughout Latin America. Countless missing in the Brazilian favelas, in the
countryside and in the forests. The police - there, here and everywhere - "never know"
what happened. Even when there is evidence of the forged scenes, the police are acquitted
or the files are closed, as they have left to carry out their work: the violent politics
of the state, the state knows no frontiers for its genocide.
We can no longer ignore the fact that, amid class struggle, there is an ethnic and racial
war waged around the world. In looking at our reality and at what is happening in
Argentina, and even in the United States, we are confronted with the imperative racial
classification of the population and the continuity of a project that began before
capitalism, joined it and today is consolidated in its structure. National elites still
fulfill their role as intermediaries between the colony and the metropolis and, embedded
in the neocolonial, eurocentric and ethnocentric mentality², apply such processes
internally and perpetuate the elimination of differences. Because we are all equal, we are
entitled to difference, the Zapatistas taught us.
Recently a year of impunity for the Guarani massacre in Caraapó, where Clodiodi was
brutally murdered, was completed. It is the same city where, on January 5, the
Guarani-Kaiowa Alexandre Claro was shot with two bullets by the Military Police. Police
claim that Alexander, already diagnosed with schizophrenia, reportedly suffered a
suspected outbreak and attacked the car. Baleado, Alexandre Claro was unjustly imprisoned
and released only recently, with the support of solidarity campaigns.
But the people who have been oppressed for 500 years have also been resisting for 500
years. In April of this year the Brazilian indigenous movement met in its historic Camp
Terra Livre in Brasilia. More than 5,000 indigenous people were present in the struggle
for demarcation of land, health, education and technical assistance. The State, whether
Brazilian or Argentine, has been advancing more and more under the territories of the
original peoples in order to exploit the agro-hydro-mineral-business. But these people do
not passively accept the fate that the state gives them in their political-ideological
project of nation. Ethnocídio, the murder of the ancient and ancestral culture, has been
combated with much struggle and mobilization. The Guarani people of TI Jaraguá held the
Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic in São Paulo, demanding the revocation of
the anti-indigenous decree 683/17 that annuls the recognition of the permanent possession
of the Guarani in its territory. The mobilizations against the temporal frame had a
beautiful and partial victory in the STF on August 16, when the actions moved by the rural
government of Mato Grosso were defeated. If approved, they would give legality to the
anti-indigenous thesis of the temporal framework, which limits indigenous territories only
to those existing in 1988. There are many examples of struggle that inspire us and show
that the state will face great resistance to overrun these sacred territories. when
actions brought by the rural government of Mato Grosso were defeated. If approved, they
would give legality to the anti-indigenous thesis of the temporal framework, which limits
indigenous territories only to those existing in 1988. There are many examples of struggle
that inspire us and show that the state will face great resistance to overrun these sacred
territories. when actions brought by the rural government of Mato Grosso were defeated. If
approved, they would give legality to the anti-indigenous thesis of the temporal
framework, which limits indigenous territories only to those existing in 1988. There are
many examples of struggle that inspire us and show that the state will face great
resistance to overrun these sacred territories.
In cities, police brutality sets its target by color. Rafael Braga, arrested in Rio de
Janeiro in 2013 and convicted unfairly, now has habeas corpus denied to treat tuberculosis
acquired in prison. In Salvador, the PMs who murdered 12 black youths in the Chacina da
Cambuia were acquitted, a move already anticipated by the Bahia governor's remark that he
compared the murder police to "gunners on goal." There are numerous cases of deaths and
black imprisonment, as well as examples of institutionalized racism.
The racial war retracted by the war on drugs and the war against the Indians that has been
perpetuated since colonization is present in several countries. Despite the different
historical contexts that the conformation of the national states has brought, there are
much more similarities between our struggles. The current repressive radicalization of the
Argentine State is echoed in our Brazilian reality and needs to be denounced and opposed.
Barring repression and building solidarity and firm ties among the oppressed people is the
way to our liberation!
The oppressed people are not silent in the face of political repression. We got here
fighting and we will continue fighting!
Brazilian Anarchist Coordination - CAB
The Mapuches ("Mapu" land and "che" people) inhabit the central-southern region of Chile
and southwestern Argentina (the original territory extended to Bolivia). They have a brave
history of fighting, their resistance against the Spanish settlers lasted three centuries
of battles!
² the worldview characteristic of those who consider their ethnic group, nation or
nationality socially more important than the others
https://anarquismo.noblogs.org/?p=848
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Message: 3
The Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement is a political movement dedicated to freeing
people from bondage and building resistance in the United States. We situate our political
movement in the context of the abolitionist struggle against slavery and continue in the
tradition, from Nat Turner to the Black Liberation Movement. We believe the Civil War was
never resolved and the system of slavery transitioned into the prison industrial complex.
Our struggle today must begin from this starting point. Lastly, as revolutionary
anarchists, the abolitionist struggle must be extended to the state and capitalism, the
perpetrators of oppression. The revolutionary movement in the US today is at a cross
roads, as fascist movements are expanding, and the state becomes increasingly
authoritarian. The Rojava Revolution, in northern Syria, provides us with a model for
revolution today with its foundation in communal and council based political organization
and militant defense.
SHORT TERM GOAL: THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
We will create networks for those facing detention, incarceration, deportation, or white
supremacist violence to escape and live with dignity. We invite revolutionaries to help
build a contemporary underground railroad, outside the reach of the state.
Revolutionaries, social centers, and antifa groups that are already active can help build
greater infrastructure of resistance to support those fleeing the state. From this
foundation, we set the political framework for the next stages.
LONG TERM GOAL: BUILDING THE ABOLITIONIST PROJECT
For the Abolitionist project to be successful we must eventually transition from
resistance to a revolutionary situation. Relationships and groups built through the
underground railroad have the potential to become the foundation for organized defense
groups, local councils, and regional/national councils.
We invite comrades to coordinate our activities regionally, and nationally as part of an
Abolitionist Council.
POLITICAL FOUNDATION
Self-Defense
Defense of oppressed people and of our political projects is paramount. We propose
developing and tying defense teams to localities and collectives that are based on
abolitionist practices.
The Neighborhood Council
As the Underground Railroad network grows outside the jurisdiction of the state and
reactionary forces, it is built through non-hierarchical relationships of trust.
Collectives and councils developed according to needs, issues, and political motivation
involve people in neighborhood self-governance.
Conflict Resolution and Revolutionary Justice
Forms of conflict resolution are essential for developing revolutionary relationships.
Social cohesion, rather than punishment, must be the foundation. Abolitionist political
growth seeks to destroy the prison, yet those oppressing others must be combated.
Abolition of Gender
The same forces that put people in bondage also utilize gender roles as a source of
domination. Overcoming imprisonment and liberating humanity from captivity must happen
simultaneously with the abolition of gender constraints.
Expropriation and the Cooperative Economy
To carve out an autonomous territory, or to begin the revolutionary process, goods, land,
and tools must be expropriated, or taken away from those who withhold them. We are
striving towards a situation where necessities cannot be taken away from those who need
them, but instead are shared with those who lack them.
------------------------------
Message: 4
The social re-entry promises to be busy, after a summer when the government has multiplied
the announcements of social declines. The mobilization against the ordinances is the
strong stake of the month of September, in a context where France rejects attempts to
impose its hegemony on the trade union movement. ---- Macron was counting on the state of
grace following his election and on the great holidays to pass a series of reforms in
force, notably the law labor XXL, in direct continuity of the El Khomri law of 2016.
Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for us, the first will not last long. The
antisocial reforms of the summer should finish convincing the employees who, without
supporting Macron, waited to see what it was going to give. ---- The month of July was
thus opened with the simultaneous decline in housing subsidies of 5 euros, including the
APL, and the reform of the ISF (wealth tax), which will no longer affect the shares. The
measure is symbolic: it is taken directly to the modest categories (6.5 million households
of which 800 000 students receive this aid) to water the shareholders.
In August, the government announced a reduction in assisted contracts, from 460,000 in
2016 to 200,000 in 2018. These various partially state-subsidized contracts are
precarious, low-paying and are rarely first steps CDI, which serves as a pretext for the
government not to make real jobs but to ... eliminate them. These cuts will have
disastrous effects for the entire voluntary sector and in the national education. Thus, a
few days before the start of the school year, the Prime Minister announces 20,000
suppressions of subsidized contracts out of the 70,000 in schools, colleges and lycées,
claiming that SIAs (auxiliary school life for handicapped students) will not be affected
.es, which would mean that all other contracts would be deleted.
Finally, the government is maintaining its desire to increase the general social
contribution levied on all incomes by 1.7 % and to reduce the unemployment and sickness
contributions of private employees. Officials and pensioners (over € 1,840 to two), who do
not pay these contributions, will be the first to be impacted. Compensation is envisaged
for civil servants but nothing has yet been presented.
Our social protection system
For the employees of the private sector, the calculation is more sneaky and will give a
gain at first. The Minister of Public Service, Gérald Darmanin, explains that " social
contributions decline by 2.2 points to 1 st January 2018[...]and will drop again to 0.95
points in the fall ." The net salary of an employee at the Smic will thus increase in the
end by a little more 20 euros per month. Macron assumes to raise the assets and active
against the pensioners, to which he asks to make " an effort ".
If the calculation may seem interesting at first sight, it is necessary to keep in mind
that behind it is our whole system of social protection that is implicated. The latter,
based on the program of the National Council of Resistance and the balance of power
favorable to workers in 1947, is based on labor, and therefore on joint control of
employees / employers, and not on taxes, the state. Social security contributions are
never more than indirect wages that finance welfare: by lowering welfare, health insurance
and unemployment insurance are threatened. And for what gains ? One can bet that the
bosses will advance this increase in trompe-l'oeil to refuse increases in the upcoming
negotiations.
Macron and his clique continue to affirm that this is only a " lack of pedagogy ": it is
the employees who have not understood the reforms. Their anti-social character seems to
have been well understood by everyone ! For proof: its rating of popularity collapsed 64 %
to 40 % in two months.
But LREM (The Republic on the march) does not have sufficient political frameworks to
intoxicate television sets and radios. So they preferred to launch communication shots as
firebreaks. Macron in OM T-shirt, Macron submarine officer, Macron tennis player
handisport ...
And in parallel, members of LREM distributed a booklet which was at first we thought it
was a joke, in which one could find a quiz " What (the) commitment (e) are -tu ? ", The
cultural references of convinced macronists such as Jack Kerouac or Aragon, amidst some
figures on climate change, all with the stated will not to make politics. In parallel,
they continue to advance on the big chunk: the labor law XXL.
The month of August ends with a final round of bilateral meetings around the draft labor
law XXL, second part of the 2016 law against which we fought. It is clear that these
meetings are primarily used to reach a compromise with certain organizations: at the time
of the closure, the ordinances have not yet been made public, and only part of the
documents has been shown to the trade unions, the delegations not having the right to
leave with.
The draft orders, however, appear to have remained relatively unchanged: the main concern
is to question the hierarchy of standards in areas other than working time, such as wages
or working conditions. Even the contract of employment would become inferior to the
sacrosanct enterprise agreement, thus authorizing the dismissal of an employee refusing to
change his contract.
The will to generalize the contract of site, very badly named CDI project since it is in
fact an endless CDD, is maintained. Just like the corporate referendum, which will allow
employers to bypass any trade union representation to impose company agreements. Staff
representation bodies would always be merged, concentrating trade union action among a
handful of professional elected officials, but the CHSCT could be maintained, in the form
of a commission in companies with more than 300 employees and some industrial sites at
risk (Seveso type).
The CFDT, but also FO, which is more unusual, want to be the craftsmen of the compromise
on this file, and hope to win in particular on the amount of labor compensation in the
event of unfair dismissal. This means that they accept the principle of the capping of
these allowances, that is to say that an enterprise will now be able to budget for an
illegal dismissal. The CFDT says today that the government will increase by 25 % the
amounts announced in June, where it wanted to double the stake. What a success ! Mailly,
on his part, procrastinates, declaring thus on August 25: " Everything is not written,
there is still a whole series of arbitration[...]. From the moment there was a real
consultation, we are waiting for the official presentation of the text. Then we will
position ourselves . "
France rejects trade unions
But this day of strike is already parasitized by another mobilization of unbridled France,
a national rise in Paris on Saturday 23 September. Rejected France feigns to be a
complement to trade union mobilization, but is no longer bent on mentioning it. A deputy
from insubordinate France said: " We are the only frontal opposition to Macron. "
On the one hand, the trade union movement, taking stock of the social movements of 2010
and 2016, states that it is necessary to return to enterprises, to better articulate
categorial and interprofessional demands, in order to anchor the strike at the risk of
falling in a certain corporatism sometimes. On the other, France, which seems to draw no
lessons from these social movements, and in particular from the episode Nuit Standing,
intends to sweep away existing organizations by mobilizing through large gatherings on
squares. It counts as a negligible amount the combat in company since it only reasons in
terms of electoral pools for 2022.
This is the first time that a political organization has been paralyzing trade union
mobilization and the consequences are still difficult to measure. But it is obviously
simpler to demonstrate on Saturdays, without losing a day's pay, without confronting his
boss ... except that the balance of power built is not the same, whether in terms of
nature or effectiveness .
Reform by prescription is made to strike fast and strong. These will be adopted by the
Council of Ministers during the week of 18 September and should be published in the
Official Journal immediately afterwards. They will finally come before parliamentarians,
no doubt in October.
Obviously it will be hard to mobilize. But let us remember what was the state of
mobilization before each social movement that we have known. And above all, the resistance
that will be expressed in September will in any case be a measure for the reforms to come.
For they will be numerous. Thus, Macron recalls that " starting in September, there will
be an implementation of reflection on a major reform of training and unemployment
insurance. And starting in 2018, we will start on the issue of pensions, it will be a
somewhat slower process . "The president having in his line of sight the" retreat by
points "to the Swedish.
It is therefore necessary to exploit the weeks of re-entry to mobilize in companies around
categorical demands and the labor law XXL in order to succeed on September 12 in the unit
and quickly demand a new strike date, so as not to put the struggle to the trailer of the
political interests of France rejected.
Grégoire Mariman (AL Orléans)
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Loi-travail-XXL-Premier-round-d-une-longue-bataille
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