Today's Topics:
1. Holand, vrij ebond: Writing evening for Sven and Natasha
(nl) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. Britain, south wales anarchists: Shoal Collective
investigates the links between the weapons business and the UK
government. (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. US, black rose fed Rochester: FIGHTING FOR A BETTER WORLD
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Ruptura Colectiva (RC): On the anniversary of Maidan in
Ukraine -- Dmitry Mrachnik (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. [Russia] A meeting in solidarity with the prisoner Piotr
Riabov will take place in Moscow, By ANA (pt) [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Book extract: Deep Ecology and Anarchism - From Freedom News
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. Czech, afed.cz: Existence No. 4/2017: Great October [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
Friday, October 20th, there is an evening night in the anarchist bookstore Opstand in The
Hague for Sven and Natasha. The evening starts at seven o'clock.
In July 2012, animal rights activists Sven and Natasha had been searched for under arrest
of a European arrest warrant. They were accused of conspiracy to extortion with regard to
Huntingdon Life Sciences, Europe's largest animal testing laboratory, and are now waiting
for their lawsuit in England with a maximum 14-year celestial sentence. Even though they
are not in prison at the moment, they are forced out of their own social environment in
anticipation of their process. That's why we write Sven and Natasha this time. Come and
write too!
More information about the case: www.freesvenandnatnata.org
animal activism , prison support , Huntingdon Life Sciences , Uprising , Writing ,
Solidarity , Sven and Natasha
https://www.vrijebond.org/schrijfavond-sven-en-natasha/
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Message: 2
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!"
https://southwalesanarchists.wordpress.com/2017/03/15/blurring-the-boundary-cardiff-event-links-whitehall-to-arms-trade/
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Message: 3
Posted on October 12, 2017 - Tags: anarchism, labor, tenant organizing "What is an
anarchist? One who, choosing, accepts the responsibility of choice." -Ursula K. Le Guin
---- It's no secret that we, the people who walk around on this big, floating rock, make
an incalculable number of choices in our daily lives. Most of these choices seem ordinary,
and life goes on. In recent times, however, our choices as socially conscious people have
noticeably higher stakes than ever before. The responsibility of our choices as people and
activists is significantly more tangible. ---- What, then, are we to do if we want to
better our situations and our neighbors' situations? How do we begin to address the issues
that affect our communities, let alone to dismantle the structures that oppress us all
around the world?
Perhaps the best answer is building strong community through organizations that fight for
power in our neighborhoods and workplaces, both in the United States and worldwide. This
issue of the Genesee River Rebellion seeks to showcase a number of organizations in the
Rochester area that are actively working to make our community a safer and freer place for
everyone.
We do plenty of shit-talking. With this issue we want to share some of those things that
keep us inspired to continue fighting for a better world. There are so many great things
happening in our city that need your support. Here are a few we chose to highlight!
Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee
The US is prone to thinking of itself as number one. We think of ourselves as providing
the best health care, the best education, the best technology - even when all the evidence
seems to the contrary. We are unquestionably number one when it comes to prisons. Despite
being home to just one twentieth of the world population, our prisons hold one quarter of
the world's prisoners. Over 2.2 million Americans' home address is a jail or prison.
Millions more are under correctional supervision in the form of probation or parole.
The majority of these people that go through our prison system are immigrants, black
people, and the poor that have committed nonviolent crimes. While in prison, they are
forced to work for little to no pay while living in toxic conditions. Their exploitation
does little if anything to alter the outcome of incarceration, and therefore primarily
serves to gain profits for the prison industrial complex and private companies.
Because prisons have been unable to reform or rehabilitate prisoners, because they do not
address the economic and social causes of crime, and most of all because prison is
slavery, the Incarcerated Workers' Organizing Committee (IWOC) is committed to abolishing
prisons altogether. IWOC is a committee of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and
engages in building a union for, and solidarity with, prisoner-workers who are or have
been incarcerated. Our goal is to shine light on modern-day slavery, and to uplift the
voices of workers who have been trapped by the United States' racist police-state into a
cycle of slavery.
Under a Trump presidency, prison abolition is more critical than ever. Samantha, a
transwoman in an Upstate NY prison, believes more people will be incarcerated. Prisons
will expand even further and things will get harder for those on the inside. Tyler, a gay
man incarcerated in Texas, agrees. He thinks things may well get worse for people like
himself, with less chances for early release or parole, fewer programs, and more
overcrowding. According to him, there will be little if any enforcement of the few laws
that protect the rights of people behind bars as budgets are cut and resources diminish.
Indeed, Trump's executive order regarding immigration and his racist-since-Nixon
commitment to "law and order" indicate that prisons will expand, and the conditions in
those prisons will further deteriorate. To begin with, Trump's promise to deport 2-3
million undocumented immigrants will increase the number of immigrants detained in ICE
detention facilities for indefinite periods of time.
Additionally, Trump has made clear that he favors privatization, and on the day of his
election private prison stocks soared. Private prisons create incentives to arrest more
people and hold them for longer, because they are paid on a per-prisoner basis. Further,
private prisons maximize profit by spending less on resources like decent food and
sanitation, meaning that conditions for inmates in those facilities are often even worse
than the shitty conditions of publicly owned state and federal prisons.
Furthermore, Trump is also dedicated to revamping the so-called "war on drugs", and
singing the praises of broken windows policing practices like stop and frisk. Where Obama
and his administration were interested in at least slowing the expansion of our massive
prisoner population, Trump seems poised to set back the clock to Bill Clinton's
administration in the 90's by criminalizing and locking up even more people.
Based on his rhetoric about crime in inner cities, combined with his selection of Jeff
Sessions for Attorney General, support for privatization, and commitment to mass
deportations, it seems reasonable to assume that not only will the prison population grow,
it will grow even more disproportionately black and brown.
Because of the labor conditions in prisons, a larger prison population also means a larger
population living in slavery in the United States. Inmates work in a wide range of
industries including agriculture, assembly, manufacturing, producing items for the
military, and call centers. Most inmates work jobs that operate the prison itself, such as
kitchen staff or porters.
In exchange for their toil, inmates are compensated with just $0.40 to $1.15 an hour; and
in states like Texas and Georgia, they are not compensated at all. When an inmate can't
make enough to pay for price-gouged commissary items like phone-calls to family, or
sanitary products, or fees just to speak to a medical professional, it's easy to imagine
how an already terrible situation can quickly escalate to an abjectly cruel one.
If prisons were an effective way of addressing crime in our communities, there would be no
need for our exploding prison population. With so many behind bars, we should have
eliminated crime by now. Prisons, instead, have become a big business that makes a profit
through slavery.
Abolition contends that prisons are not the answer. It imagines an alternative that starts
with addressing the root causes of harm to the community - like poverty and lack of
education - and says that community-based solutions will be more effective than simply
locking people away. Like the abolitionists of the antebellum era, 21st century
abolitionists envision a society and an economy that doesn't depend on slave labor to survive.
Our comrades in the Fight for 15 and a Union movement fight against worker exploitation
outside of prison, and our comrades in the Black Lives Matter movement fight brutal police
which put people in prison. IWOC stands with them by organizing resistance inside prisons
to fight the same state which oppresses us all. We connect directly with people behind the
wall through regular correspondence. Our firm belief is that it is through them that we
stand the best chance of abolishing the carceral state and moving towards true liberation
for all.
The energy generated in response to Trump's win presents us with an opportunity to educate
and bring new people into our efforts. If we can capture this energy, a new world without
prisons is possible.
To join us in destroying slavery once and for all, please join our local IWOC chapter on
the first and third Thursdays of each month at the Flying Squirrel Community Space at 285
Clarissa St. in Rochester, NY.
Tenant Unions
Remember back in 2008 when years of massively corrupt banking practices finally imploded
the world economy? One of the major results of that moment was an unprecedented
foreclosure and eviction crisis, something that Rochester didn't escape.
Over the course of only a few years, hundreds of thousands of houses across the United
States went into foreclosure. While many homeowners were evicted by the banks that now
claimed ownership of their homes, there were also many tenants evicted simply renting from
a landlord that ended up in foreclosure.
As that crisis hit, many groups throughout the nation popped up calling for an end to the
evictions and for housing to be an acknowledged human right. In Rochester, Take Back the
Land was the key group helping to organize those facing eviction to stay in their homes.
They've led multiple blockades against evictions, gained national attention for the
struggle, and halted many evictions.
In the last few months, they've begun proposing an exciting new venture in the fight to
make housing a human right - a citywide Tenants Union! Think about it. A body of people
that can collectively force shady landlords into respecting the dignity of their tenants.
An organization that can actually help us negotiate rent prices, rather than be stuck with
ever increasing "market-rate" rents. A group that can wipe that smug hipster look off that
slumlord-fuck Lyjah Wilton's face.
In addition to the inspiring work that Take Back the Land has already done, they're
helping propel Rochester's movements forward by their proposal for a citywide Tenants
Union. With tens of thousands of tenants across the county, it's amazing that an
organization doesn't exist already that helps offensively assert the interests of these
people.
This is a great organizational style that can help do some amazing things in the
short-term. Tenants Unions can prevent unjust evictions, reduce absurd rent, win back
stolen security deposits, ensure reasonably well-kept apartments, and much more.
But a Tenants Union is more than that. It also has the long-term ability to change the
exploitative dynamic between landlord and tenant. It gives working class and poor people
some control over a major part of their life. It provides a clear path forward to housing
being a real human right. It's a way of building the new world in the shell of the old.
As anarchists, we look forward to the day when there are no longer landlords, but instead
organizations like Tenants Unions democratically controlling the housing stock of our city
and world. We don't simply want to stand up against the vampires that suck wealth out of
our communities, we want to end the exploitation as a whole. Tenants Unions offer that
possibility. So go get involved.
Fight for $15 and a Union
"I am involved in the Fight for $15 and a Union because living in poverty has been an
ongoing thing in my family. Generation after generation has had to struggle even when we
are hard workers. I have a 5 month old now; one of my jobs as her mother is to ensure she
has a fantastic future filled with every opportunity she could ever possibly want, and the
Fight for $15 is a great start for that."
Alexsandra's story is a common one among the nearly 3.8 million people working in fast
food in the US. She's a Puerto Rican working mother who's been working in low-wage fast
food and retail in Rochester for years. Like her, a large proportion of fast food workers
are of color, are women, and are parents raising families working full time or overtime.
Yet, these workers still struggle to afford rent, food, basic healthcare, school supplies,
and accumulate any significant savings.
Stephen Easterbrook, the CEO of McDonalds, "earns" nearly $8 million a year just for
collecting profits and mastubating into french fry containers. Meanwhile, thousands of his
employees have no healthcare benefits, retirement plans, paid sick leave, or even
consistent work hours. It's a jarring consequence of capitalism that must be challenged.
That's why Alexsandra and hundreds of thousands of fast food workers all over the country
are uniting in the Fight for $15 and a Union: to demand the living wage their work
deserves, power, and therefore respect in their workplaces, and an end to the degradation
of their families' livelihoods for generations to come.
Metro Justice began organizing the Fight for $15 and a Union in Rochester in 2014. Three
years later, fast food workers have gone on five strikes and lead numerous marches and
rallies, all with the solidarity of hundreds of Metro Justice members and community allies
like Rochester Black Rose. The most inspiring aspect of this movement? Workers are winning!
Governor Cuomo's desperate attempts to be politically significant aside, it was the direct
action of fast food workers that won an incremental minimum wage raise to $15 an hour by
2021. In response to this victory, Jill Tobin, a volunteer organizer with Metro Justice's
Fight for 15 Community Solidarity Committee, says "The most inspiring thing about the
Fight for $15 is that it has worked. Workers risk harassment from their bosses, they risk
being fired illegally, they risk judgement from their communities. They are brave enough
to stand up anyways. Ultimately their courage and sacrifice won hundreds of thousands of
folks a living wage. What that says to me is that the sweat and blood it takes to organize
a movement is worth it."
More recently, waves of protests and a scathing media campaign lead by Hardee's workers,
and joined by other fast food workers, caused Andy Puzder to take a well-deserved walk of
shame far away from the labor secretary cabinet seat.
These victories make it clear that in the midst of a political system that cannot be
trusted to represent the interest of the masses, popular movements are the most effective
force to achieve social and economic justice. Currently, Trump is intent on eroding nearly
all social, environmental, and labor protections one sociopathic tweet at a time, with
legislative aid from his demonic lair of bumbling cabinet appointments.
The Trump administration is not going to back down. We as workers and a community should
make it clearer everyday that neither are we. Workers need a living wage now, not in 2021,
and workers need meaningful unions.
The Fight for $15 and a Union, both in Rochester and on a national level, is not only
organizing fast food workers, but also building bridges between other low-wage worker
movements and racial justice movements. While there are nearly 3.8 million workers in fast
food, there are millions more working for poverty wages in other industries who also
deserve better. In that spirit, The Low Wage Worker Table in Rochester brings fast food
workers at Metro Justice together with dairy farm workers, taxi drivers at Workers United,
the Rochester Worker Center, and UR adjuncts at SEIU Local 200 to organize in solidarity.
On April 4, Metro Justice and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists led a march and town
hall where hundreds of people said that racial justice is economic justice. On May 1, the
Low Wage Worker Table in Rochester hosted a festival of resistance in which local artists,
educators, and social justice organizations came together to explore the intersections of
labor and cultural heritage in order to model a better future.
"If low wage workers earning poverty wages, just scraping by every month, can amass a
movement strong enough to win, then none of us have an excuse to not join them," remarked
Tobin. When workers' rights are under attack, what do we do? We stand up, we fight back,
and then we win.
Metro Justice
Metro Justice is a progressive organization in Rochester that's involved in a lot of
important fights. Rochester Black Rose has joined or supported several MJ campaigns,
particularly the Fight for $15. Whether you're looking for the biggest group of
progressives in town, or just the most tenacious one - Metro Justice is where you should
start.
It started in 1965, as Friends of FIGHT. FIGHT was a black freedom organization formed
after the uprising in Rochester. Metro Justice has since led and participated in many
struggles over the years from anti-segregation work, to Latin America solidarity,
sweatshop-free campaigns, stopping nuclear power, and opposing war.
"Metro Justice is an organization of individuals coming from a diverse array of political
experiences and perspectives. Members have joined from a variety of political, economic
and social backgrounds and have sought different levels of participation within the
organization. There is no specific ‘guiding ideological framework,' nor do we have
allegiance to a specific political party or tendency." - Metro Justice Theory of Change
Document
Metro Justice is funded by membership dues, not by foundations or the government. Hang
around Metro Justice folks, and it shouldn't be too long until you hear a story about one
or another politician threatening to cut off their funding for bothering them on issues,
only to find out that they're from Metro Justice and the politician can't do shit.
Metro Justice is a democratic organization. That democracy starts with the annual
membership meeting. Members are in charge of approving the organization's budget, and
determining long-term strategy. All members have an equal voice in debates and an equal
vote. The membership also elects the Council that governs the organization year-round.
Denise Young is currently President of that Council.
In 2017, the membership adopted a new Strategic Plan. In it, MJ clarifies its current
thinking on some basic political questions and then lays out what needs doing. Black Rose
supports the Strategic Plan, and we look forward to building social movements alongside
our Metro Justice allies.
MJ's plan is based on a class struggle organizing model that challenges white supremacy.
Given that Rochester still ranks among the poorest cities in the US, the following excerpt
is particularly noteworthy: "Poverty and all its resulting consequences are the product of
wealth inequality and exploitation. They are not accidents or failures of our economic
system, they are the natural consequence.... Poor and working class people should
understand and assert their own interests, which are usually in direct contradiction to
those of the elite, wealthy, and politically powerful."
In keeping with the legacy of Friends of FIGHT, MJ believes in challenging white
supremacy: "History has demonstrated time and again that the heaviest blows of crises fall
upon communities of color. And the leadership of persons of color in building fightbacks
and progressive initiatives has been a source of inspiration and emulation. While the
leadership of communities of color in defeating white supremacy is critical, white people
- particularly the white working class - must recognize both their responsibility and
self-interest in combating white supremacy and institutionalized racism."
Another key to MJ's strategy is to organize around what it calls the "Revolutionary Edge
of Reform." That means using each fight to setup the next one and undermining the power of
the elites over time while building our own. "Because we don't simply fight for the sake
of immediate victories, but for the purposes of building power of our own organizations,
we engage in the legislative arena with hesitation." Metro Justice does not endorse
political candidates.
Besides the Fight for $15, MJ is fighting on several fronts. The Metro Justice Education
Committee's work combatting the school-to-prison pipeline continues to impress. MJ
Healthcare is leading the fight to win Medicare for All across NYS. When ICE was trying to
kidnap a family from Geneseo, Metro Justice mobilized to stop them. MJ also has a Climate
Change Committee, and an Elder Justice Committee.
If you're still kinda new, or not sure where to go or what to do with your political
energy - check out Metro Justice. You can join online for as little as $5/month.
Black Rose Anarchist Federation
In an effort to avoid humble-bragging about ourselves, we'll just come right out and say
it: Black Rose is pretty damn cool!
Despite being the coolest, there are a lot of unfortunate misconceptions and
misunderstandings about what we do and what we're about. So let's clear it up.
The Black Rose Anarchist Federation is a nationwide organization that proudly stands by
our political, social, economic views of anarchism. We are an ideological organization,
meaning much of our focus is holding and developing a deeply thought-out worldview and the
strategies about how we can get to that world.
In the era of Trump, having organizations with big ideas is important. When we talk about
resistance to Trump, what does that resistance look like? What exactly about Trump and his
agenda are we resisting? Are we simply resisting Trump, or does it go beyond him? If we
could wave a magic wand and change everything, how would we change it?
This is all especially important given the shifting sands of ideology underneath all of us
now. There are what seem like new ideologies emerging and the stances you would often
expect from the mainstream political parties seem to shift just as quickly as everything else.
To actually start deconstructing the dominant ideologies at play in the United States is
going to be critical, but difficult work. Our country has such a long history of being
opposed to expressed ideology. Having a clear ideology is equated with dogmatism and
fanaticism.
We're supposed to look at the world without any ideology or framework of thinking. We're
supposed to be "neutral." Most opinions are issue-by-issue instead of based on any
long-term outlook. In fact, we are dogmatically anti-ideology. This has serious
consequences because the dominant ideologies of those in power often pass themselves off
as "common sense."
Without a real understanding of those ideologies already at play, we risk getting
manipulated by them. For instance, real life fascists are running around the country
organizing rallies for "free speech." Fascism is ideologically against free speech. But
the far right has discovered that they can manipulate an ideologically inconsistent
liberal population into supporting the growth of their hateful movement by crying foul.
For this and many other reasons, the Black Rose Anarchist Federation works to develop a
clear outlook on the world around us to share with the growing resistance movement. In
confusing and rapidly changing times, it's easy to get led astray if you don't know where
you're going in the first place.
With this role in mind, Black Rose can help a growing resistance avoid becoming just a
series of reaction protests to whatever stupid-ass thing the Trump administration does or
says today. Instead, we can focus on building a world where the ignorance, racism, and
misogyny of the Trump agenda have no place. We can do more than resist. We can win.
http://blackrosefed.org/fighting-better-world/
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Message: 4
In 2013, Kiev found itself in the midst of that most inexplicable, unreadable and
irrational force that turned the political life of Ukraine upside down. The regime of
Yanukovych, and before him - Yushchenko, for years, had crushed the remnants of rights,
provided, if only on paper, the well-being of ordinary citizens of Ukraine. One after the
other, "reforms" poured in, carrying the costs from the accounts of the state and
employers' budgets to the shoulders of those who work for wages, and all this patiently,
except for the lonely sparks of discontent, was accepted. It would seem that nothing makes
people's anger stronger than the prospect of sweating for slave wages for 60-65 years, and
and still end up with nothing? As it turned out, the reason for the riot was the refusal
of integration agreements with the European Union. Ordinary people don't care about
interstate, intermarket, and intercapital system of arrangements.
And yet, the dreams of the European Promised Land acted more strongly than the gloomy
prospects of harsh reality. When disturbing thoughts about blood and bread become a habit,
the cause for rebellion becomes something irrational. Something completely meaningless for
people in whose interests it would seem, the struggle for freedom and contentment, and not
for myth and worship. It is the passing of twenty years from the myth and cult which was a
slap in the face, which the most active, and secondly, the inactive part of Ukrainian
society were unable to endure.
It is quite true that the power of bourgeois society, which has been growing for years and
the whole host of its ideologies, has reacted predictably. It would be strange to expect
something different from the public consciousness, led by organic intellectuals of the
bourgeois vector. It is for this reason and other experiences about the weak influence of
the left that I am overcome by bitter tears. Society can not jump a hurdle that it can not
even imagine, and the mere existence of capitalism does not imply a socialist agenda in
the emerging revolutionary moods. This is not a dispute between the theories of the
world-system or the linear development of socio-economic formations, whose dogmas,
unfortunately, cannot help us much in the retrospective analysis of the Ukrainian revolution.
Maidan appeared in form and content as a bourgeois-democratic revolution in a society "not
completely au fait with fair" capitalism. This same trait also ruined it as a mass force
capable, it would seem, of fundamentally changing the social life of the country. It
should be understood that Ukraine built in a solid world economic system in 2013, is not
France of 1793, innovatively standing on the threshold of the world political avant-garde.
The self-organization and direct democracy of Maidan managed to do even less than, in its
time the analogous institutions of revolutionary France. The ruling classes know their
business, so they occupy their leading position, they are well aware of their interest and
are able to quickly and impartially analyze the historical experience of their predecessors.
The grassroots fraction of Maidan did not fulfill its revolutionary tasks, being unable to
go beyond the demands "to change power" and the repetition of the bourgeois-democratic
ideology. Not that "intellectuals" were drowning their sorrows, while the people vainly
exercised their minds, secretly praying for help. Everyone who knows anything about the
issues of the revolution and its tasks has long said everything that can be said, however,
their words did not particularly affect the course of events. The reason for this failure
is not the weak voices of connoisseurs or the silly heads of the active participants and
participants in the occupation of the city center and street fighting.
Awareness of one's own strength is a process not only lasting, but also frightening. When
one realizes that here it is in front of us, the long-awaited power, but there is no real
understanding of what to do with it, and even less willingness to answer for it. There is
only one thing to do - step back and wait until someone comes forward,someone who's brave.
In this situation, the appearance of an authoritarian helmsman who, with knowledge, would
undertake a strong leadership would be a kind of relief. Thanks to this immature approach,
revolutionary Ukraine warmly greeted the nationalists, and post-revolution not only let in
the bosom of the supreme authority, the old "new" corrupt official and bourgeois cynic
Poroshenko, but also continues to endure it. Ukraine has swallowed and dispersed Maidan,
and now has a never ending exhausting war, and is shifting military spending onto civilian
shoulders, and even less dreams for ordinary people. The revolution ended with the victory
of the bourgeoisie and part of the old bureaucracy, those forces that did not particularly
complain about life before.
Of course, Ukraine will not be the same, despite the victory of the counter-revolutionary
faction of Maidan. To roll back the shift in the public consciousness which occurred is
impossible, and hardly anyone will allow such attempts to happen. The grassroots movement
that took shape during Maidan will continue to live in other initiatives and seek new ways
of translating its understanding of justice while learning on the go. Political culture
has evolved from the "seizure of power" by Maidan in 2004 to uncontrolled bloody battles
for it in 2014. A society that survives like this will no longer be able to return to the
role of passive electorate, unable to defend its opinion outside the kitchen or polling
station.
As for us anarchists, our role in the initiated process is the same as before - to go to
work where the class agenda may be in demand, to squeeze out right-wing ideas with
faultlessly honest and consistent argumentation, and insist on changes that improve the
situation of the working people. Actually, this is what we have been doing all the time
before the Maidan and during it. I would not extol the influence of the leftists on the
agenda of the initiatives around Maidan, since it was exactly as miserable as the
Ukrainian society is ready to accomplish the social revolution. We were fellow travelers
of this revolution, in which we managed to save face and tone.
It's unlikely that we will be the vanguard of social changes in future years, but we have
the strength to prevent reactionary rolls and all the opportunities for building up our
influence in an audience that Maidan mantras can no longer satisfy. Anarchy will not be
born from the mere "folk creativity" in politics, nor will it be born from the naked
schemes and programs of revolutionary organizations. We are waiting for global political
action, from which we have no right to shirk .
http://rupturacolectiva.com/on-the-anniversary-of-maidan-in-ukraine/
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Message: 5
Today, October 14, the "Arkhe" Culture Center (Moscow) invites to a meeting in solidarity
with the Muscovite Piotr Riabov, imprisoned and on hunger strike for 4 days in Belarus.
---- Piotr Riabov is an anarchist, master of philosophy, professor of the Department of
Philosophy of the University of Pedagogy of Moscow, historian, philosopher, writer,
researcher of the history and philosophy of anarchism and existentialism. ---- The meeting
format presupposes the statements of some Piotr compas, the free microphone, a debate with
the public, as well as the discussion about his current situation. ---- Compas by Piotr
Riabov who will be doing the lines: ---- * Vadim Damier (Doctor of History, researcher at
the History Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences). ---- * Dmitri Rublióv (Master
of History, lecturer at Moscow State University).
* Andrei Fiódorov (Specialist in Spanish history, archaeologist).
* Aleksei Sivúkhin (Arkhe Culture Center).
The guest list can have more participants.
Beginning of the meeting: October 14, Saturday, at 3:00 p.m.
FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/539115729768000/
> Video of the Riabov speech that was invaded by the Belarusian police, from 14min:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=7y0KsS1mgqs
> Group in the FB of Riabov, where he announces his lectures and shares material about
his situation:
https://m.facebook.com/groups/1782375098657064
Source: https://avtonom.org/news/vecher-solidarnosti-s-arestovannym-v-belarusi-petrom-ryabovym
Translation> A firefly
------------------------------
Message: 6
Marking the run-up to the launch of deep ecology and anarchism at this year's London
Anarchist Bookfair on October 28th, below is the latter part of an essay by Robert Hart, a
founding mover of the forest gardening and permaculture movements. ---- The main cause of
the ecological crisis is not the "population explosion," as many Northern analysts claim,
but gross under-use of the world's land resources. ---- Apart from totally unproductive
deserts, which cover one-third of the Earth's land surface, there are vast areas of
grassland, much of very poor quality, which is used for grazing cattle and sheep. The
average food production of such areas is about half a hundredweight per acre per year. In
the Highlands of Scotland it is reckoned that it takes five acres of grassland and
moorland to support one sheep. Much of the rest of the world's agricultural land is used
for the monocropping of cereals, with an average production of two to four tons per acre
per year. But under agroforestry systems annual production exceeding a hundred tons per
acre per year is possible. Moreover, under such systems, a wide diversity of food and
other useful plants is produced, supplying well balanced diets, as well as fuel, building
materials and other necessities.
The food plants produced by an agroforestry system supply the most important factors in
human nutrition, in which most diets, in the poor and rich worlds alike, are gravely
deficient. These are fruit, whose natural sugars feed the brain and energise the body, and
green plants, whose chlorophyll - the basic constituent of all physical life - has a
special affinity for the blood. A diet designed for optimum positive health should
comprise seventy percent of fruit and green vegetables, preferably consumed fresh and raw.
A disaster afflicting today's world, which is at least as serious as any actual or
potential environmental disaster, is the colossal toll of disease caused by bad or
inadequate food. The malnutrition of poverty in the Third World is no more drastic in its
effects than the malnutrition of affluence in the rich sector - the malnutrition caused by
excess of fatty, clogging, over-flavoured and chemically processed foods causes the
"diseases of civilisation" which are no less lethal than the diseases caused by
destitution and dirt.
Before there can be an Environmental Revolution there must be a Humanistic Revolution. The
reason why ever-growing stretches of the Earth's surface are hells for human beings,
whether they are squalid shanty-towns, polluted and violent inner-city ghettos, squatters"
camps, concentration camps or treeless wildernesses, is that the powers who run the world
regard people as things, as objects of exploitation or domination. A word coined by Karl
Marx in his critique of the capitalist system was verdinglichung - "thing-making," though
Communist commissars have proved as guilty in this respect as capitalist entrepreneurs.
Both groups regard human beings as mere pawns to be used for the furtherance of their
personal power and wealth. Similarly, their only interest in a stretch of beautiful
countryside is, not how its beauty can be preserved and enhanced, but how most effectively
it can be "developed;" whether it can be made to generate more wealth as the site of a
building estate, an industrial complex, a factory farm, an airfield, a hydro-electric dam,
a nuclear power station, a motorway, or a "theme park."
The attitude of the powers-that-be towards life in its infinite complexity, whether in the
form of a human being or a tropical rainforest, is one of gross over-simplification. The
human being is only of interest as "consumer," "investor," "labour," "voter," "soldier" or
"taxpayer." The forest, with its vast diversity of species, is only of interest as a
purveyor of timber, or, burnt to the ground and converted into pasture, as a brief
purveyor of hamburgers. The only standard is short-term profit; no regard is paid to
longer and wider prospects, to the needs and survival of living beings.
It is among ordinary human beings, not industrial chiefs, bankers, bureaucrats and
politicians, that humanistic feelings are found in their greatest intensity. Among our
tortured world's supreme needs is the divine commonsense and compassion of the
conscientious mother and housewife. This is a manifestation of the power of Gaia, the
grassroots dynamic which must supply much of the motive-force of the Environmental Revolution.
Unlike previous revolutions, this must be overwhelmingly non-violent and constructive. It
will comprise an ever-increasing profusion of small growing-points, like the new plants
that irresistibly spring forth in an area devastated by volcanic eruption.
Already it is possible to detect a multitude of such growing-points in almost every
country. A report critical of industrialism was entitled Limits to Growth, but no limits
should be placed on the growth of new village communities, family farms, organic
market-gardens, conservation groups, Green organisations, and co-operative enterprises of
all kinds. Even now, the people involved in these must number many millions. If only their
efforts could be integrated and co-ordinated into a worldwide New Life Network, they could
give rise to a non-governmental organisation which could speak with real authority in the
United Nations.
As the primary impulse for all activity comes from the human psyche, the first essential,
if mankind is to survive the colossal challenges of the present and future, must be a
Moral Revolution. Mutual aid, rather than money, power, status and self-indulgence, must
be accepted as the basic law of life. Modern communication technology has forcibly brought
home the fact that it is one world. Disasters involving human suffering are shown on
television screens with equal immediacy, whether they occur in distant countries or the
next street. No longer can people shrug off responsibility for the tribulations of their
distant cousins. In fact those tribulations are generally caused by negative or positive
factors in the worldwide system and ethos which govern the way the majority of the world's
citizens live and work - a system and ethos based on blind selfishness and materialism.
Gandhi said, "There is enough in the world to satisfy everyone's need but not everyone's
greed." In fact, the technological know-how exists to give every human being adequate
food, water, shelter, clothing, energy and opportunity for self-fulfilment. A worldwide
campaign of resource development for need could be a "moral equivalent of war," which
would bring deep psychological as well as physical satisfaction to countless millions, not
least among those who at present are seeking the soul-destroying "satisfaction" of
exploiting, dominating or otherwise hurting their fellow human beings.
Such a campaign, wholly constructive and transcending environmental problems as well as
human barriers and rivalries - and involving the planting of trillions of trees - could
usher in a period of positive peace and creative activity such as mankind has never known
throughout history. The alternatives face each one of us: a series of ever deepening
environmental and economic disasters and conflicts or a world of unprecedented beauty,
diversity and abundance.
~ Robert Hart
deep ecology and anarchism is launching at this year's London Anarchist Bookfair on
October 28th, with a talk by contributing author Brian Morris. It's available for
pre-order with a 10% discount here.
https://freedompress.org.uk/store-2/products/deep-ecology-and-anarchism/
https://www.anarchistnews.org/content/book-extract-deep-ecology-and-anarchism
------------------------------
Message: 7
The 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution simply can not be overlooked. What role
anarchists played in this event, and how it evaluates it, reveals the autumn number of the
Anarchist Revue of Existence. ---- Since the closing of the previous issue, several
important things have happened. The first Czech climatic camp was held, where side by side
shared space and blocked the coal infrastructure both non-governmental and anarchist. At
the beginning of July, Hamburg turned into a place of several worlds - the global elite,
the anti-capitalist element and the uniformed thorns, which made sure that "the others"
did not bother "the first ones". The Municipal Court in Prague freed anarchists and
anarchists accused of one of the frustrating processes of the police anti-anarchist
operation of the Phoenix. On the other hand, there is a struggle for an autonomous social
center of the Clinic that has left the court with a loss.
Some of these events are reflected in the heading "Movement activities", but focus on the
main topic of the autumn number of your / our anarchist review. This is the Great October
Revolution, because at this very moment we are commemorating its centenary. Even though it
did not work best, there is no reason to turn away from her and not to remind her. After
all, at the beginning, among the others, anarchists stood, and in the early years many of
them tried to fight against the boom of Bolshevik terror, which ultimately resulted in the
liquidation of any opposition and the creation of a system that brought with it a new
ruling class and consolidated state power in all respects. For anarchists, this in
practice meant painful confirmation of their earlier criticism of the authoritarian
directions in the workers' movement. The Russian Revolution, however, has prompted even
uncritical enthusiasm in some anarchists, and those in a few years have made a turn from
the followers of unlimited freedom to defend the Bolshevik power. This was the story of a
part of the Czech anarchist movement for which this grasp of the Russian Revolution became
another coffin clove after the tragedy of the First World War. However, this aspect is on
the siteWe do not pay attention to existence , it would undoubtedly merit a vast study
that does not have enough space.
After a brief introduction, as anarchists and anarchists of the 100th anniversary of VRSR
we recall so critically, we bring in an interview with Alexander Shubin the current view
of this historian and leftist activist for the revolutionary year of 1917 in Russia. Max
Šcur discusses Lenin's becoming a State and a Revolution , which quite prominently
reflected the implications of his authoritarian politics. Dmitry Rubljov describes the
extent to which individual movements of the Russian radical left were represented during
the revolutionary events of 1917, focusing in particular on the role of anarchists and
their relations and links with others. From the memory of anarchist Fyodor Drug, readers
can make a realistic picture of the famous attack on the Winter Palace, which is more of
an example of how a chaotic situation can become a turning point in history. An example
from Anna Garasjev's book ŽI'm in the most cruel country ... The anarchist's memories
depict the post-revolutionary events associated with the persecution of the Neolithic left
and the life of the Riyadh administration. Her experience with the then-on-going regime
was also written by Emma Goldman, who had the opportunity to meet both Kropotkin and Lenin
during her stay in Russia. Goldman left this country together with Alexander Berkman, from
whom we look at the Kronstadt Rebellion, a blood-suppressed Bolshevik headed by Lvo
Trotsky. Finally, we added the story of two anarchist sisters who were born at the
beginning of the century in the Tsarist empire and died after the collapse of the Soviet
Union.
The theoretical section fills in the essay of the well-known anarchist Rudolf Rocker,
which describes the differences in thinking and practice of social democrats and
anarchists. Some want to be empowered, others want to remove it. History, however, teaches
us that when the authoritarian left comes to power, it either becomes the instrument of
pacifying workers and maintains the capitalist order, or works for a non-free life under
the watchful eye of the repressive apparatus.
In the section of interesting personalities from the history of the anarchist movement, we
will briefly introduce you to the life of Spanish anarchist Alejandro Campos Ramirez, who
is considered the inventor of table football. And of course, we could not forget that in
August, ninety years had elapsed since the execution of Nicola Sacca and Bartolomeo
Vanzetti, American anarchists of Italian descent, whose story was known almost all over
the world at that time.
To keep this number out of the history, we will look into contemporary Greece, and through
an article by Yiannis Baboulias, we will come closer to life and struggle in the radical
Athens neighborhood of Exarchia. This is a good introduction to the next interview with
Greek rapper Javaspa, talking about the situation in Greece and the underground hip-hop scene.
The site dedicated to the Anarchist Federation, the texts of the last three numbers of the
A3 wall paper , the topics of the G20 summit in Hamburg, the murderous conditions of the
capitalist regime and the great electoral fraud. Finally, we remind our late sociologist
Zygmunt Bauman, reviewing his latest book Aliens at the Gates .
44 pages A4, recommended contribution to cover costs 45 CZK.
PDF Download HERE . https://www.afed.cz/casopisy/existence/Existence_4_2017.pdf
To buy at some anti-authoritarian movements, concerts and festivals and distribution points:
Salé Information Center (Orebitská 14, Prague 3 - Zizkov),
Rekomando (Trojanova 9, Prague 2),
Autonomous Social Center Klinika (Jeseniova 60, Prague 3)
Futra Club (Masarykova trída 1000, Orlová),
Antikvariat Cerný pes (Sedláckova 20, Plzen),
Cooperative cafe Inkognito (Husova 24, Plzen),
Three Tails (Jaroše 18, Brno).
Internet Distribution: xBASTAx , Papagaj's announcer , Crew error , Miruus Levyt
For those interested in Slovakia, we recommend ordering at Salto Mortale (sust[a]riseup.net).
At each distribution point, the publication of the AF Publisher is usually delayed. Thank
you for your understanding.
https://www.afed.cz/text/6753/existence-c-4-2017-velka-rijnova
------------------------------
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