Anarchic update news all over the world - 6.11.2017

Today's Topics:

   
1.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL Octobre - 1937: Education
      and emancipation among Spanish anarchists (fr, it, pt) [machine
      translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  anarkismo.net: Catalonia: "It is Not Just a Question of
      Redrawing a Border" by Jos� Antonio Guti�rrez D. (ca)
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  cgt andalucia: By the power that we have self-conferred we
      invoke and conjugate the Akelarre (ca) [machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group MACG Statement on
      Marriage Equality Survey by ablokeimet (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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Message: 1





Before the war devours the Revolution, Spain marked with the seal of the CNT-FAI, proposes 
to change the life. The mores of a society rid of the pangs of capitalism are born. A new 
Spain emerges with the implementation, on a mass scale, of libertarian ideals. ---- 
Barcelona under the revolutionary influence is an amazing sight for any foreign visitor. 
In Homage to Catalonia, the Englishman George Orwell recalls: "   It was December, 1936. 
The anarchists always had their hands on Catalonia and the revolution was in full swing. 
For whom then came directly from England, the striking aspect of Barcelona exceeded all 
expectations. It was the first time in my life that I was in a city where the working 
class had taken over. Every shop, every cafe had an inscription informing you of its 
collectivization ; to shoe shiners that had been collectivized and painted red and black ! 
The waiters, the salesmen, looked at you in the face and behaved with you in equals. Turns 
of servile or simply ceremonious sentences had simply disappeared. Nobody said anymore 
"Se�or" or "gift", nor even "usted": everyone was tutoyait, one was called "comrade" and 
one said "salud" instead of "buenos dias".[...]And the strangest of all was the appearance 
of the crowd. To believe the appearances in this city the rich classes no longer existed. 
With the exception of a small number of women and foreigners, we no longer saw people 
"well put". Almost everyone was wearing proletarian clothes or blue overalls. All this was 
strange and moving.  "

In 1936, the area where the revolutionaries intervene with the most dynamism is education, 
which they strive to remove from the influence of the church.
"   Education, bread and tenderness   "

While a new identity, new social reflexes appear, the libertarians strive to imprint their 
footprint in a specific area: education and popular culture. Until then, culture was the 
monopoly of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy, framed by a traditionalist church. July 
19, 1936 sends down the culture in the street. Literacy classes are set up for adults. 
Libraries are created at the initiative of Jeunesses Libertaires (JJLL) in many 
localities. Their places: old churches transformed into Houses of culture.

The field, however, where the revolutionaries intervene with the most dynamism, is the 
education they endeavor to remove from the influence of the Church. For this, they rely on 
the writings and practices of the anarchist pedagogue Francisco Ferrer, who in many points 
announces what will later be the alternative educational and anti-authoritarian 
conceptions of a Celestin Freinet or a Maria Montessori.

A French revolutionary syndicalist reports, not without humor, the visit of a school in a 
small town in Catalonia, the following facts: "  In what was a convent of sisters before 
the revolution is now a school. This convent was a superb building. The sisters had even 
built a gym. It is also the first time that I knew that the nuns engaged in sports games 
and maintain their muscles to stay in a pleasant form, worthy wives of Christ. This room 
will not undergo transformation, it is now the children of the people who will play 
sports. The chapel, for example, will be turned into a printing shop that will be used by 
the children of the school. Another room for the cinema: education by the image, because 
the union of the cinema will make films for the children of school. The living room will 
also make a beautiful library. Mixed classes did not exist before the revolution. The new 
school currently has 550 students. Catalan is taught to children until the age of 10, 
after it is learned Castilian. The new rationalist pedagogy begins to be applied. Ferrer 
was murdered, but he began to survive intensely in Spain. � [1]

An educational revolution

Gr�gory Chambat, in his book Pedagogy and revolution, class questions and pedagogical 
re-readings, shows that the pedagogical concern is well and truly riveted to the body of 
the libertarians: "  When the revolution breaks out, with its reflections and especially 
its practices, the movement knows where it wants to go in terms of pedagogy. In this area, 
as in many others, he did not wait for the "big night" to experiment, to grope, to analyze 
... In addition to the Athenaeans, bubbling centers of cultural agitation, unions 
organized evening classes and even mounted their own school. Despite years of fierce 
repression (rampage, looting, imprisonment of animators of these libertarian and trade 
union schools), nothing has succeeded in extinguishing the flame and the passion of the 
movement for pedagogical questions.  "

A passion made necessary, too, by reality: the situation of Spain in the 1930s is 
catastrophic, with an illiteracy rate of 52% and 60% of children who are not in school. 
But ambition is not limited to schooling children or building schools. Alongside the 
educational work, an educational revolution takes shape. In opposition to the education of 
yesterday, "   the new school   " intends to put down all the defects of the traditional 
school: "  The boarding schools , the correctional houses and the barracks school 
disappear ; the idea of education is substituted for that of punishment. The new school is 
the expression of a social ideal and a pedagogy detached from authoritarian traditions  ". 
   The school curriculum has the following purpose: "   That all children have bread, 
tenderness and education in the most absolute condition of equality and that the free 
development of their personality is ensured.  " [2]

Teaching methods are questioned, in order to develop students' critical thinking: "   The 
school must place the child in such an environment that the exercise of antisocial 
impulses is made impossible, not by constraint. and violence, but through the solidarity, 
sincerity, work, love and freedom characteristic of the physical and human environment 
that surrounds it ... The new school respects the personality of the child. We believe 
that all methods must be tested, always opting for the one that best suits the local 
characteristics, the nature and character of each child, etc. It is obvious that it is not 
enough to change the name of the school: one must change one's mind, one's morality, one's 
methods. � [3]

At the level of mentalities, too, a new wind blows. Despite the gender equality advocated 
by the CNT-FAI, it is clear that women need a specific organization to be better heard and 
more specifically defended. In 1934, Grupo Cultural Femenino (Women's Cultural Group), was 
born and developed with the support of the women of the magazine Mujeres Libres. These 
groups are at the origin of the organization of the "   Free Women   ": the Free Mujeres 
(ML), created in April 1936. The ML lead a fight on two fronts: for the social revolution, 
and for the liberation of the women. They gather, at their peak, nearly 30,000 women in 
1938. The journal Mujeres Libres writes:"   The best mother is not the one who holds the 
child against her breast, but the one who helps to forge a new world for him.  " [4]

"  Free women  " against prostitution

The fight of ML is multiple. Its activists are fully involved in the work at the factory 
or in the fields, in various educational and cultural projects. They are also found on the 
front, rifle in hand, alongside their male comrades. The role of the MLs, however, makes 
perfect sense in specific struggles that aim at finally freeing women from their chains: 
the right to contraception and abortion, the questioning of marriage as a social 
institution. this patriarchal society against which they fight furiously.

Another fight of the ML relates to the particular case of prostitution: "  The most urgent 
thing to do in the new social structure is to suppress prostitution. From now on, still in 
full anti-fascist struggle and before taking care of the economy or the teaching, we must 
finish with this social degradation. As long as the greatest of the slaves remains, the 
one who forbids all worthy life, we can not think of production, of work, of any kind of 
justice. That we recognize decency to no woman until we can attribute it to all. As long 
as there is a prostitute, there will be no wife of such, sister of such, companion of 
such.[...]We must finish with this quickly. And it must be Spain that gives the world its 
new standard. We will all, we Spanish women, undertake this liberating task. It is 
necessary now to do what women's associations never did, which pretended to emancipate the 
woman by forming a few typists and organizing some pleasant conferences, some recitals of 
elegant poets and poets. In some of the places we visited recently, we were shown, to a 
large extent, that "prostitution" had been "suppressed". At our request to know how and 
what we did with the women who practiced it, we were told: In some of the places we 
visited recently, we were shown, to a large extent, that "prostitution" would have been 
"suppressed". At our request to know how and what we did with the women who practiced it, 
we were told: In some of the places we visited recently, we were shown, to a large extent, 
that "prostitution" would have been "suppressed". At our request to know how and what we 
did with the women who practiced it, we were told:"It's their business" In this way, 
suppressing prostitution is very simple: it boils down to leaving women on the street, 
with no way to live. Mujeres Libres is creating liberation centers for prostitution that 
will start to function in the near future. To do this, premises are planned in various 
provinces and there will be the following program:

1. Psycho-psychiatric research and treatment 2. Psychological and ethical treatment to 
encourage a sense of responsibility among prostitutes. 3. Orientation and vocational 
training. 4. Moral and material help whenever necessary, even after becoming independent 
of the centers. � [5]

To liberate women and men from their chains and manners of a capitalist and patriarchal 
society. Free children from authoritarianism at school. A real utopia in action that, 
alas, will be slowed down with the advance of the counter-revolution by moderate 
Republicans and Stalinists as early as 1937. A utopia in action that will end 
definitively, in March 1939, when the boots of the troops of Franco will enter Barcelona.

J�r�mie Berthuin (AL Gard)

The guerrillas of the cinema

In July 1936, the CNT's Single Union of Public Spectacles (SUEP) collectivized the film 
industry: "   With the first revolutionary guerrilla forces, the first film guerrillas 
also went under the banner of libertarianism,   " says Richard Prost , in the documentary 
film A cinema under influence. Unique in the history of cinema, this experience has 
allowed diversified expressions, militant, surreal, classic, surprising, transgressing 
taboos and social conventions. In 1936 and 1937, the CNT-SUEP produced and produced 
documentary films, reports on the front, but also fictions rooted in the reality of the 
time (no less than two hundred documentaries and eight fictions).Nosotros Somos Asi, 
Aurora Esperanza, Nuestro Guilty, Barrios Bajos are films both critical of capitalist 
society and intended for a very wide audience.

Nevertheless, as early as the summer of 1937, anarcho-syndicalist production declined, 
with the Communists putting an end to collectivizations, including that of the film 
industry. The cinema becomes more didactic, the production concerns essentially the 
documentaries and the news.

The Franco victory will mark the end of the innovative momentum of Spanish film production.

[1] Trade Union Struggle No. 192, January 22, 1937.

[2] Juan Puig Elias in Anti-Fascist Spain, August 26, 1936.

[3] Ibidem

[4] Mary Nash, Free Women, Spain 1936-1939, �ditions La pens�e sauvage, 1977.

[5] Ibidem

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?1937-Education-et-emancipation-chez-les-anarchistes-espagnols

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Message: 2





Interview with Miguel P�rez, Secretary of External Relations of CNT (Spain) ---- In the 
middle of a hectic week of the crisis between the central government in Madrid and the 
Catalan government, Anarkismo spoke with the Foreign Secretary of the Confederaci�n 
Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), Miguel P�rez. In this interview, he discusses the position 
that has been maintained by the anarcho-syndicalist organization in Catalonia and the 
scenarios that the current situation opens for the class, libertarian and revolutionary 
sectors, throughout the Spanish state. "It is not just a question of redrawing a border, 
but of reformulating the structures and state system." ---- 1. What characterization do 
you, as CNT, have of the crisis in Catalonia and the Spanish state? What is really at 
stake?  ---- At CNT we are not mistaken about the origin of the current situation. 
Obviously, it responds to a conflict between elites to ensure their survival and ensure 
control of the territory for their own benefit. However the development of the situation, 
with the massive mobilization of a large part of the population in Catalonia, opens a 
series of social and economic intervention spaces that weren't there a year ago, or at 
least not in the same way.

The case of the Catalan government is very clear. The Generalitat (Catalan local 
government) has been largely controlled for 40 years by moderate right-wing nationalist 
parties. As a result of the economic crisis in the last years, its management has been 
heavily criticized, especially since the 15M eruption in 2011. The cuts to social 
services, corruption scandals, the unstoppable increase in debt, indignation about the 
repression against popular mobilizations ... everything seemed to be against the 
Generalitat. Precisely from that moment on, the most questioned politicians pulled the 
independence card, initiating a process that leads to the current situation. That is not 
to say that there was not an important section of independence in Catalan society before, 
but the political maneuver is evident.

For its part, in the case of the central government, it is the representative of a model 
of state and society that arose after the death of Franco, a process known as Transition. 
Since 1978, when the current constitution came into effect, the state has been based on a 
series of principles, such as monarchy, largely bipartisan parliamentary democracy, union 
representation through elections, unity of Spain with limited self-government for the 
regions , etc. Anyone who opposed any of these principles was immediately confronted with 
state apparatuses. This has been the case with the CNT, we have always refused (and we 
still refuse) to accept the current union model, based on majority unions pacts that 
function as control valves for the discontent of working people. This "regime of 78" has 
also been widely questioned since 2011, for reasons similar to those in the Catalan case. 
In fact, it is worth remembering that some of the politicians at the head of the 
independence process have been and are the local representatives of the very same regime 
in Catalonia. Therefore, it is possible to speak of a confrontation between elites, 
political, economic and unions, concerned with safeguarding their control of a certain 
territory. The challenge to the unity of Spain, launched by the Catalan independence 
initiative, is only one of the most evident factors in this questioning of the regime. But 
there are also other elements. It is not just that a considerable part of the population 
in Catalonia wants to be independent, but they want to be part of this state model. Iin 
many cases it is not just a question of redrawing a border, but of reformulating the 
structures and state system. As a Catalan colleague told me recently, "let's not fool 
ourselves, we are at the threshold of a second transition". That is a process that will 
fundamentally alter the structures of the whole Spanish state. For example, the Madrid 
government is already talking about reforming the constitution, etc.

Of course, the purpose of these reforms and the changes that are taking place are not 
decided in advance. A very real possibility is that they will result in an even more 
authoritarian model, as a reaction to the threat to the system, taking advantage of the 
Spanish nationalist feeling that is experiencing a boom in reaction to Catalan 
independence. This nationalism, brewed by the media and encouraged by the central 
government, has a clear component of the far right (Spain's unity has always been a 
favorite subject of the right), which can result in a normalization of fascism. In this 
sense, we at the CNT think that it is essential to take to the streets, participate in the 
mobilizations and promote the elements of criticism to the system that are already present 
in the current demands. Both to curb this right-wing drift and to contribute to the extent 
of our possibilities, so, the restructuring of the Spanish state model will result in the 
working class gaining positions at the heads of the official bodies, not the other way 
around. We also see it as an opportunity to include elements of social and economic 
vindication in a context in which they would otherwise be absent.

2. Why, as a trade union organization, for an issue that at first sight would seem 
eminently political, did the CNT decide to call for a general strike?

The evident intention of nationalisms, both Spanish and Catalan, has been to use the 
population as a joker in this process. On the other hand thats something they always do. 
But in the case of the independence referendum on October 1, the Spanish state answered 
with police and repression that left hundreds of people injured. To a large extent, the 
general strike was called against this repression. The organizing unions, as workers' 
organizations, resorted to their own tool, which is the strike.

Anyway, it was expected that this would be the central state's response to the referendum, 
since in the weeks before the referendum the police presence in Catalonia was 
significantly increased. It was also to be expected that from that date an intense period 
of mobilization would open up throughout the region and we understood that a general 
strike call, in this context, was the most coherent action on our part. As I said at the 
beginning, the attitude of some sectors of nationalism towards the strike makes clear its 
intention to use the population as a shield. In some of the pre-convocation meetings, 
representatives of pro-independence parties tried to convince the unions that the strike 
should be held on the same day as the referendum so that the pickets could come to defend 
the referendum against the police action. Clearly we refused to be dragged into their game 
this way.

It is also worth commenting on the action of the majority unions, the regime, on the 
occasion of this strike. Before the scenes of police violence on October 1, that same 
night their Catalan sections joined the call to strike. But the following morning they 
withdrew, no doubt after receiving orders from its central executives in Madrid. Instead 
of a strike, they defended a cal for a civic strike, in which the workers asked permission 
from their bosses to leave for a while. Speechless.... Evidently, their central leaders 
were worried about the destabilizing effect that a workers' and combative strike could 
have on a regime of which they are part of themselves. In any case, the strike went ahead 
and it is the first time in 40 years that minority unions have been conducting a 
successful general strike in a territory, despite the boycott of the major central trade 
unions of the regime. The paradigm shift is evident.

One last point regarding the strike. During these last weeks there have been many 
demonstrations, gatherings, actions, etc. in defense of independence or other similar 
motivations within the nationalist agenda. CNT has not participated or supported any of 
them, because they have a strictly political intention and it is not something that we are 
going to participate in. On the contrary, our colleagues and comrades in Catalonia have 
been lavished with assemblies, meetings, colloquia, the media, etc. (apart from the strike 
itself), where our position has always been clear, the need to overflow the purely 
nationalist process to include economic and social elements. We are aware that sometimes 
it is difficult to make a difference, especially facing the exterior, but we hope we can 
make a contribution in this regard.

3. This call was made jointly with other unions and organizations with a libertarian 
tendency. In what sense is this moment pushing, and why, at higher levels of unity? What 
contribution do you think libertarians can make to this movement that we are experiencing?

CNT has long abandoned the isolationist attitude that made it refuse to collaborate closer 
with other union organizations. In that sense, calls or joint announcements are nothing 
new. The case of the strike is one more example. However, we are also aware of the 
limitations of this cooperation. During the last few years, the CNT has worked hard to 
develop the model of trade union sections (the assembly of workers of a union in a company 
or workplace) and to exploit its potential to carry out an effective union work without 
the necessity to participate in trade union elections. This operation makes a clear 
difference in the way the CNT acts and makes decisions regarding other unions. Our union 
models are clearly different and in some cases this is a limitation when it comes to 
working together. Concerning the situation in Catalonia and in the rest of the state, it 
seems to us that there is a wide space of collaboration in denouncing repression and in 
opposing the right wing drift of the state and some sectors of society . But this is again 
conditioned by the local reality of each organization, which could be very different.

With regard to the contribution of libertarians, it is curious to note that, while some 
groups and organizations hold similar positions as ours (and in fact the propaganda for 
the October 3 strike included their signatures), others clearly support independence , 
from anarcho-nationalist positions. Others, however, are opposing any form of 
participation, considering that it is an exclusively nationalist process, although this is 
more common in groups outside Catalonia. I think we all have clear that the main motive of 
the mobilizations is nationalist and independentista. That is something we can't change, 
we don't have the ability to change that. From there, some understand that it opens up a 
space of action, as I have already mentioned before, which is where we want to focus on. 
As far as I know, within all the nuances that can be in this position, that is also the 
position of organizations like Embat, who are very active in this field.

4. What are the major threats and possibilities for the people that are opening up at the 
current juncture?

The main threat, and its not small, is the rise of Spanish fascism, as a reaction against 
the possibility of breaking the unity of Spain. In fact, there has already been an 
increase in the activity of extreme right-wing groups, with agression and attacks in broad 
daylight. So far Spain had not seen the rise of the populist and xenophobic nationalism 
that is rampant in other countriesof Europe or the United States. On the contrary, the 
popular response to the crisis was of a radically contrary sense, with the emergence of 
the 15M movement. At this moment that might start to change. Although some fascist groups 
had achieved a certain implantation imitating the tactics of Golden Dawn, likef 
distributing social aid only to their own national population etc., until now this had 
been a minority. However, the current situation, together with an anti-immigration and 
Islamophobic discourse, can form an explosive cocktail that turns them into a real danger 
in the streets. On the other hand, the CNT's own history shows that the best way to stop 
this boom is the mobilization of the people in the street, with a clear revolutionary 
push. Obviously, we are very far from the levels of mobilization and political radicalism 
of the 30s or 70s, but the lesson remains valid. When what has been put on the table is 
little more than a refoundation of the regime, a redistribution of the balance of power 
within the Spanish state, it is evident that a wide spectrum of possibilities and ofcourse 
opportunities are open. It is necessary to conquer new spaces of action, to change the 
paradigms and to break the monopolies in the control of the territory that have been 
maintained until today. And that can only be done from the street. In the 1970s, when they 
designing this regime and this democratic framework, the role of recuperating and 
integrating leftist political parties that participated in the institutions already became 
clear. At present we have other similar actors, emerged in the heat of 15M, who will end 
up playing a similar role, consciously or unconsciously. The pressure that tilts the 
balance in one direction or another must come from the mobilization.

5. What is the current situation of CNT on the Iberian peninsula and what is the main role 
that its fulfilling in the current conjuncture? To what extent is this related to the 
debates and progress made at the XI Congress?

The CNT has been undergoing an important process of growth and consolidation for some 
years now. Not only in an obvious numerical sense, although we are still small, but in the 
development of more ambitious initiatives, settlement and implementation of our union 
model, etc. This has allowed, above all, a greater presence in the workplace and at the 
social level. We can say that the general perception of the CNT, among other social 
movements and the population in general, is much better today than a decade ago. This is 
noticeable and important when intervening in situations such as Catalonia. Your speech has 
more credibility if it comes from people known and respected in the locality that if you 
have demonstrated a sectarian attitude in the past and no one trusts you.

However, this consolidation process has been uneven and presents a number of challenges. 
To begin with, although most local unions have chosen to implement and develop our recent 
agreements, in line with the last congresses, others did not wanted to or have not been 
able to do so. In general, this has led to loss of membership and loss of the ability of 
these unions to act. As a consequence, a regional map is given with notable inequalities 
between localities, which is a problem in itself. This also happens in Catalonia, where 
unions have been in a situation of strength and have been able to carry out an intense 
activity in the face of the recent situation, while others have not been able to have any 
influence on the events. What is worth all this is to know how those local unions that 
were well-positioned beforehand when a critical situation has arisen, both in terms of 
number of activists and in terms of performance, have been able to respond to the crisis, 
while the others do not. The same thing would happen in any remotely revolutionary 
situation. The advantages of building organization for years are obvious.

In addition, any organization that grows (especially if it has revolutionary goals, like 
ours) has to face a series of concrete problems. These are very different from those that 
harass a stagnant organization, but they are not less real. For example, it is good to 
have many new affiliations, but it is necessary to integrate all those people into the 
organization's own functioning and culture, from affiliations to militancy, etc. No one 
denies these challenges, but of course these are problems that would not arise if there 
are no new affiliations. No one said that building a revolutionary organization was easy. 
One option is, of course, to remain forever a group of friends in a pub or a social 
center, but that is palmarily contrary to any revolutionary project. We can not accept 
that solution.

Regarding the XI Congress, although it may seem curious now, the fact is that at no time 
the current scenario in Catalonia was under consideration. Although the independence 
process has been forging many years, many organizations that are not involved or didn't 
participate, were not present enough. We knew it was there, but we did not see this 
potential overflow. In that sense, the last congress reaffirmed our agreements on support 
for self-determination of the Palestinian, Kurdish or Saharan people, but Catalonia was 
not explicitly mentioned. However, it must be said that we do not see the need to make any 
exceptions in this case. Therefore the CNT supports the self-determination of the Catalan 
people, understood not in a statist way, as nationalist politicians would like, but as 
self-organization of a class in a given territory.

Perhaps this lack of concreteness is one of the reasons why some local unions have 
expressed their doubts or their disagreement with the approach of the Catalan colleagues. 
Of course, it is normal that in complex issues and in crisis situations, doubts arise what 
is the most appropiate strategy. In fact, as it could not be otherwise in an organization 
as plural as CNT, the debate is constant about the most appropiate approach or the action 
to each new developement of the situation. We have no interest in projecting the image of 
a monolithic organization, because we are not, nor do we pretend to be. Everything is part 
of the continuous debate of ideas and strategies that is given in CNT and in this complex 
case, it was expected that there would be a diversity of opinions.

Finally, as you probably know, the XI Congress of CNT launched a global proposal to create 
a new international. This process has already paid off in many parts of the world, even if 
only with the establishment of dense networks of contacts between anarcho-syndicalist 
organizations and revolutionary syndicalists. This has allowed us to maintain a constant 
flow of information with these organizations (limited only by our own ability to work), 
which have played a fundamental role in helping us to explain our positions in a situation 
that is obviously not easy. More importantly, the solidarity of these organizations was 
demonstrated in a series of calls for support to the general strike in Catalonia, since 
there were up to 60 acts in various countries around the world. We can not repeat enough 
how grateful we are to all of them.

6. How do you think that the mobilization in Catalonia can build bridges with the 
movements and organizations in the rest of Spain?

As I said before, a lot of mobilization and a great effort will be necessary to redirect 
this process of "retransition" and take it to approaches that are minimally advantageous 
for the working class. Of course, CNT can not face it alone, we are not even clear that 
doing so would be the best thing, even if we could. In that sense, the collaboration will 
be forced and necessary.

But it is also true that each group, movement or organization is going to resort to this 
convergence with its own objectives and agendas. It can not be otherwise and in the CNT we 
will not fall into the infantilism of thinking that suddenly it is going to give a 
proletarian brotherhood without restrictions.

Neither are we going to give up our revolutionary goals, which are not, of course, shared 
by everyone that can add to this attempt to overflow the current situation. However, there 
are a number of important points on which we can start building this convergence, such as 
the rejection of repression and fascist Spanishism. On this basis, steps are already being 
taken to work together, with meetings, debates, communications, etc. It is to be hoped 
that this collaboration will go further, as the situation unfolds. It may be that 
sometimes this joint work generates conflicts and doubts about the way forward, as it is 
already doing on the Catalan stage. But we played a lot as a class at this juncture as if 
we were looking the other way.

As a revolutionary organization, CNT understands that it has to be always present in the 
great conflicts of our class, when there is an opportunity to project our message, explain 
our position, radicalize the conflict, etc. We have the internal tools necessary to 
advance this process collectively, discussing strategies and expressing doubts or 
disagreements. We await years of conflict, struggle and mobilization. It will not be easy, 
but I am sure that the whole CNT will live up to the circumstances.

Original interview in Spanish here,


translation made by and republished from Enough is enough

http://anarkismo.net/article/30641

------------------------------

Message: 3





"To all our witch sisters, the first guerrillas and fighters through all time" ---- We 
claim the wisdom of women, evil, ugliness, rarity, extravagance, bizarreness, hypertrophy 
and multiformity. ---- We vindicate the bearded women, the dirty women, the grandmothers 
with perfume of the 20 duros (yes, of the 20 duros), the stinkers, the fighters, the 
femmes fatal of firm step, the hair truck driver on chest ---- We claim the hairy armpits 
and shaved pussies. ---- We claim our right to burn everything, to create everything, to 
be the women that we want, to invent and reinvent ourselves again and again. ---- We claim 
our right not to feel fear, to provoke fear, to subvert, to transgress, to disorient, to 
disrupt, and above all to disobey. ---- We claim our right to be wrong, to scribble our 
desire as and as often as we want. To penetrate our ears, to dilute our navel, to sell our 
years, to masturbate to infinity, to manipulate our body-bodies that are a field of 
battlefield.

We claim unpleasant, loving, hard as stones or soft as moss, firm as a mast or soft and 
slippery as menstrual blood.

Because witchcraft is rebellion, because witchcraft is power, because witchcraft is our 
story, because witches are all!

FIRE FIREWOOD AND BURNING THE BOILER!!

Feminist and anti-patriarchal

Source: https: //m.facebook.com/story.phpstory_fbid=10210498792971122&id=1383996538

https://www.cgtandalucia.org/blog/6439-por-el-poder-que-nos-hemos-autoconferido-invocamos-y-conjugamos-el-akelarre.html

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Message: 4





The Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group supports a YES vote in the postal survey on 
marriage equality now in progress in Australia. We do this, not because we endorse the 
institution of marriage, but because the survey will have concrete results and we need to 
choose which results we favour. ---- Marriage is a reactionary social institution which 
exists so that men can ensure that their property will be inherited by children who are 
unquestionably their own offspring. Historically, it was also a means for negotiating 
alliances between families to advance their interests. The wishes and interests of women 
were of little account in the process. Marriage has thus been part of the subordination of 
women to men within class society. With the rise of capitalism, romantic love gradually 
superseded dynastic manoeuvring, allowing individuals relative freedom in choosing their 
partner. Such freedom is still subordinated, though, to the need to ensure paternity in 
the inheritance of property.

In recent decades, social prejudices against homosexual activity have been decaying, a 
consequence of widespread contraception, which has severed the previously iron link 
between sex and reproduction. This has opened the door for LGBTIQ people to gain wider 
acceptance in society and allowed their struggles for equality to achieve greater success. 
The struggles have been hard fought, because power concedes nothing without a demand, but 
the preconditions for success now exist in a way they didn't a century ago.

In 2004, the Coalition Government of John Howard saw the growing push for equality in 
society by LGBTIQ people and decided that something had to be done to stop it. Howard saw 
he would have trouble holding the line in the face of a piecemeal push against a series of 
petty material forms of discrimination, so he decided that he would draw a line in the 
sand over a major symbolic issue - marriage. After a brief media campaign, the Labor Party 
capitulated and voted with the Coalition to entrench compulsory heterosexuality in the 
Marriage Act. Howard had won another battle in his culture wars and had his position 
strengthened. What few anticipated, though, was how far and how fast public opinion would 
change.

Until Howard changed the Marriage Act, getting the legal right to marry had not been a 
priority of the LGBTIQ movement. For the most part, it saw marriage as a reactionary 
institution. There had only been a few stirrings of interest, provoked by developments in 
the United States. Howard had engaged in a pre-emptive strike, ensuring that marriage 
equality would not be achieved through the courts. His action turned the political 
situation around. The Marriage Act now stands as a massive statement by the State that 
LGBTIQ people are not equal to straight people and their relationships are second class 
ones. The LGBTIQ movement got the message and realised that social equality wasn't going 
to be achieved without marriage equality. The forces of reaction have chosen their ground 
and we must wage our battle on that field, or not at all.

In itself, changing the Marriage Act to allow couples of the same sex to marry is a very 
minor reform. LGBTIQ people will have access to a reactionary institution which will be 
rendered irrelevant by a workers' revolution which abolishes property and thus 
inheritance. The significance of the campaign for marriage equality, though, is in the 
enemy we must defeat to achieve it. We are fighting organised religion, with the Catholic 
Church at its head. We are fighting some of the most powerful and justly hated figures on 
the political Right in Australia, including Tony Abbott, Cory Bernardi and Andrew Bolt. 
And we are fighting the Fascists, who have taken time out from spreading Islamophobia and 
anti-Semitism to demonstrate that this campaign is not about marriage, but about the 
legitimacy of homosexuality itself. If we win, we put these people to flight. If we lose, 
we will face a festival of reaction such as Australia hasn't seen since the 1950s.

The postal survey is a flawed process of direct democracy, something far inferior to an 
authentic plebiscite on a concrete proposal. We didn't choose this battlefield, but it's a 
battle we must win. Vote YES for liberty, equality and solidarity. Vote YES and prepare to 
take the struggle further.

https://melbacg.wordpress.com/2017/10/02/macg-statement-on-marriage-equality-survey/

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