Today's Topics:
1. Greece, [Corfu] Microphone - concentration and solidarity
course for Libertatia. By APO (gr) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. France, Alternative Libertaire AL #279 - Sappers and
Firefighters Gard: There are under the helmet ! (fr, it, pt)
[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Greece, Public account of the first two years of operation
of the Anarchist Federation Anarchist Federation (gr) [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. US, WSA, ideas and action: From down under in New
Zealand/Aoteara... (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Britain, afed: Transnational Anarchists in Solidarity with
Mapuche People - week of protest called on 29th of January to 4th
of February 2018. (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
The cumulonimbus anarchist group participates and supports the call for solidarity in the
occupation of Libertatia by the occupation of Elaia. ---- Tuesday 23.1.2018 at 18.00 at
Georgaki Square. ---- On 21/1, a nationalist rally for the "Macedonian" was held in
Thessaloniki, which involved a large number of patriotic, nationalistic, Christian and
natural neo-Nazi groups from all over Greece. Taking advantage of the security offered by
this massacre, the Fascists found a way to sneak their holes. They made successive attacks
on the Ex School and occupation of Libertatia. The offensive to the school was
successfully defied by the defense, while the first attack on the Libertatia occupation
resulted in some minor damage to the outside. A moment later, fascists return to the same
spot and in front of the cops' eyes they fire the occupation of Libertatia, proving once
again that cops and fascists are the two sides of the same coin. These attacks do not
scare us, they do not suppress us, they do not lead us to resign. Besides, it is not the
first arson of occupation by fascists. In our city, we have lived this, and we know well
that in the end they simply strengthen us and conquer us. We do not exist for squats,
squats exist to house our ideas, and our ideas are refractory. No strike of a state and
detained in self-organized places will not be unanswered.
WHO HANDS MADE TO OUR BENEFITS AND OUR STREETS WILL BE MADE
SOLIDARITY IN LIBERTATIA
Initial group cumulonimbus-member of APO- OS
Solidarity course in Libertatia and 5 arrested Thursday 25/01 at 18.00 Georgaki Square
http://apo.squathost.com
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Message: 2
A strike followed at 80 %, the occupation of a public square, the direct creative action
that arouses popular support: the firefighters and firefighters Gard have applied the best
recipes to win the victory. ---- The professional firemen and firemen of the Gard - of
which SUD is the majority union - have just prevailed in the conflict which pitted them
against the departmental council and their direction, the Departmental Fire and Rescue
Service (SDIS). After more than a month of a strike initiated on October 23, the 400
employees got satisfaction on their demands: the creation of 28 additional positions and
the modernization of their intervention equipment (trucks, equipment). ---- The website ,
facebook page and Twitter account of Southern SDIS 30 (Gard).
To achieve this result, the strikers were creative. They symbolically put up for sale
their barracks on Leboncoin.fr, then relocated their premises and stations intervention on
one of the busiest arteries of the city, in front of the prefecture of Gard, where were
installed barnums, tents and barbecue ... and even an inflatable castle for children !
During one month, various direct actions were carried out, well relayed by the local press
but also national: blocking of a TGV ; toll free operation at Nîmes-Ouest; gusts of
carbonic snow and invasion of the county council by the strikers, noisy happening during
the municipal council of the town whose president of the SDIS is deputy mayor. In
parallel, the petition of support for their struggle has collected 30,000 signatures on
Nîmes, proving that this strike movement, followed by 80 % of the workforce, was widely
approved.
In a video broadcast on Facebook, firefighters humorously denounce the dilapidation of the
Saint-Geniès-de-Malgoirès barracks.
Tense negotiations
The negotiations were not without pain. The direction of the SDIS and the departmental
council began by deaf ear, and refuse the opening of a negotiation as the firemen and
firemen continue their actions punches and would impede the circulation with their
barracks of fortune . They eventually give in. The pressure came from above, the Ministry
of the Interior likely fearing that the Gard example inspires other barracks.
After a first round of negotiations that turned sour on November 5, an agreement was
signed two weeks later. Only one point of stumbling: the contribution of 1 % of
municipalities to the financing of additional resources. A contribution that, for the time
being, the mayors of the Gard refuse to pay. The unions are already announcing that, if
necessary, they are ready to resume the fight in January.
In any case, thank you to the sappers and firemen: in this period of decline of the social
movement, this type of victory reminds that only the fight pays !
Jérémie (AL Gard)
We can follow the political and union activity in Gard on Vimeo with Rebellion Production
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Sapeuses-et-sapeurs-pompiers-du-Gard-Y-en-a-sous-le-casque
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Message: 3
It has come, in our view, the time for the public presentation of the assessment of the
creation and functioning of the Anarchist Federation. The reason for this is twofold. On
the one hand, it is a necessity based on the political ethos and the liberal culture that
we are trying to have as anarchists. On the other hand, the ownership, both by us and by
the rest of the movement, of the experience that has been painfully conquered by the
course of the organizational struggle so far is an essential necessity. So today we have
to define successes and failures, denials and victories, both inevitable and reckless
mistakes. ---- In revolutionary history nothing is new but nothing is a copy of an old
story. Experience of ventures is a tool that can only be dialectically useful: evaluating
and evaluating what is already worthwhile for competitors, first and foremost as a tool
for the future - what became important in what can be done.
The analysis of the "initiative of the four groups" that led to the beginning of the
organizational effort remains clear today. The potentials, the momentum, the wealth that
the anarchist space carries, but also our limits, weaknesses and inadequacies continue, in
our opinion, to be there and to look at us all in the eyes.
This valuation text marks for us the completion of what we defined in our founding
conference in 2015 as the "experimental period" of the Anarchist Federation, a period that
is de facto our every move, our every structure, our every initiative would be
experimental, just because neither and none of us had done it again, none and none of us
had a ready recipe. With this text, we announce the results of this "experiment" and based
on the new reality, we proceed to the 1st regular conference of the AO. which will
determine its definitive physiognomy.
Starting with the presentation and evaluation text of the Anarchist Federation's
functioning so far, it would be wrong and disingenuous not to publicly admit that the
original plan on which the formation of the Anarchist Federation has failed has failed.
The original plan - which collectivities we shared together - corresponded to another
treaty and, necessarily - as is often the case when designs are actually impinging - has
radically changed.
From the initiative of the four groups to the splitting of two panhellenic projects ...
The process
Four collectives, following a common course of several years in the "Assembly of
Anarchists for Social Democracy" (the last, to date, such a group of collectives) began a
courageous effort to overcome what those, and all the others who responded to their call,
as an increasingly visible political impasse in the field.
The four-month fermentations of the four groups, despite the different strategies on the
dispute (differences which partly left their echo after the effort) led to the production
of an initial call, structured on 7 points, which constituted the political prerequisite
for the participation of a collectivity in the organizational effort. The fact that
prerequisites for participation were clear political positions and acceptance of the model
of the federal approach (whose definition was left entirely in the processes that
followed) was the best proof - much more than any assurances given by the four groups -
that the organizational effort it never intended to "unify the space". The organization
sought would not be based on the logic of "synthesis", it would not concern all of them /
anarchist comrades / elders. It concerned the shapes that saw themselves within the seven
points: it was, therefore, an attempt to organize a certain political tendency within the
space. The developments that followed confirmed the correctness of this choice, as will be
described below.
The effort was presented at a major event in ASOEE, where more than 40 teams from all over
Greece attended and were assigned to the issue. Several different views have emerged. Some
of the collegiates present did not agree with some of the seven points, while some did not
agree with the "federal model" and put forward a logic of "pan-Hellenic network".
Twenty-one (21) groups accepted the call for the "Fourth Initiative" and eventually
started the venture that led to the creation of both the Anarchist Federation and the
Anarchist Political Organization.
The process began with its self-definition. Each group was invited to bring up a list of
issues on which it considered it necessary to place the ongoing nationwide project so that
there could be an anarchist federation with full content, common plan and effective
structures. These issues were synthesized, thus defining the common agenda that should be
discussed in a piece-piece, and which included more than 30 issues covering almost all of
the anarchist political substance, strategy and possible structures. For each of these
issues, each group had to be placed in writing. The process was structured with two-day
pan-Hellenic meetings approximately every two months, while placements and part of the
fermentation were done through a web forum. For each of the subjects of the agenda, a
first conversation of representatives took place at the meetings, and a group of
interlocutors took the task of composing opinions, presenting the commonplace, passing
through a second stage of discussion, ending and approving the assemblies of teams after
two days. The process was exhaustive. Each group had to discuss within each item on the
agenda, get a placement for it, and plot it in text. From then on, her delegates traveled
to Athens and for 2 days from morning till night they negotiated their positions. In the
end he had to reconsider the final result. he will pass through a second stage of
discussion, end up and be approved by the group assemblies after two days.
The process was exhaustive. Each group had to discuss within each item on the agenda, get
a placement for it, and plot it in text. From then on, her delegates traveled to Athens
and for 2 days from morning till night they negotiated their positions. In the end he had
to reconsider the final result. he will pass through a second stage of discussion, end up
and be approved by the group assemblies after two days. The process was exhaustive. Each
group had to discuss within each item on the agenda, get a placement for it, and plot it
in text. From then on, her delegates traveled to Athens and for 2 days from morning till
night they negotiated their positions. In the end he had to reconsider the final result.
her representatives traveled to Athens and for 2 days from morning till night they
negotiated their positions. In the end he had to reconsider the final result. her
representatives traveled to Athens and for 2 days from morning till night they negotiated
their positions. In the end he had to reconsider the final result.
Despite the difficulty and the trouble, however, it could not in any case be otherwise,
faster or more superficially, since the objective was a politically coherent federal
structure. Among anarchist collectivities, it was commonly accepted that every subject
that was considered important by each group had to be put on the table. Every issue had to
be discussed as long as it was needed to produce, through long fermentation, a community
of placements. With a look at the unformalist past, where everything was "left to the edge
so we would not be killed", we decided not to leave disagreements under the table. With
the look in the future, we all have to close as many as possible "wounds" so we can move
as openly as possible to the inaccessible road that the movement faces in a time of crisis.
Problems and dead ends
Very quickly began to appear the first weaknesses and difficulties. Some were predicted -
some did not. The original call concerned collectivities and even strict policies. The
logic behind the call to political groups only - which led to the exclusion of schemes
such as occupations and hangouts or anti-fascist / anti-fascist groups - that did not
describe themselves as political groups was based on the prediction that such structures
would not be able to manage such an agenda - which is very logical because of their
structure, composition and targeting. Today we are confident that if there were such
multipolar race schemes between us, the co-decision and decision process would be far more
difficult as impracticable. In the long process, it seemed that even the political groups
themselves were very heterogeneous in their positions on the thematic and proposed
structures. Topics that were seriously treated in some groups, others were terra
incognita, with the result that we are still confronted with conceptual and coding
differences that blocked development and led to misunderstandings.
This heterogeneity, however, was much wider than that of "theoretical production
potential". There were groups with very heterogeneous quantitative powers, with some of
them numbering dozens and a few, which gave enormous weight to the latter, both for the
preparation of their positions and for their representation. There were groups that made
extensive preparation and fermentation inside, and others who came in rough directions
from their collectivity and relied on the improvisation of their representatives. There
were groups that had practically devoted themselves to the organizational effort, and
others that although they had their own rich action, they did not feel this effort as a
priority in the same way. From the beginning it was a goal for all of us to continue to
exist as such, to continue to produce their political work, to speak, to act. The result,
however, of the heterogeneity in the prioritization of the pan-Hellenic venture was some
formations devoted to the organizational effort to neglect their political struggle, while
others neglect the processes. One thing is certain: the amount of effort and time required
by this effort had been devalued from the outset.
In addition, another problem that emerged, evident in every political process, concerned
the division of labor within the groups themselves. Soon, for part of the groups, the
representations were consolidated: they were constantly the same people who assumed the
burden of representation. This produced within the federation's cells two speeds: some who
lived the effort and some who saw it through the eyes of the first.
The cafes from the window
The organizational effort of the anarchist federation considered and regarded itself as
part of the anarchist space and not as something that comes to substitute or try to work
in a political contrast with it. Forms that had never before communicated and co-formed
with each other, shapes with a long history of joint action but also shapes that had
active confrontation and suspicion among themselves sat together at the same dialogue
table. This was something that, of course, was predicted. From the first moment, it was an
issue that could potentially destroy the entire venture, if not all of them were taken
seriously. The way this challenge was addressed was the design and implementation of a
robust political process that would translate into conflicts and speculations on concrete
disputes for discussion and synthesis. But whatever you do with processes, in order for
continuity to take place, a minimum of "good intent" is required. And this minimum we
called it "restarting relationships". In fact, we all agreed to leave in the past existing
contingencies and political (or not) dislikes, and to relaunch our relations with all the
collectives involved in the project. For a long time, this approach worked very
effectively. Procedures have progressed and a reality different from the "dogfugs"
somewhere between the politician and the staff that make up the small village village has
become feasible. And that was one of the most important experiences we have gained. Yes,
it is feasible for anarchists and anarchists in today's circumstances to overcome the
political and social misery of a small village with feuds and gossip battles in cafes and
Indymedia. And all this, while outside the process, reality was flowing into its "normal"
form. Groups continued to collide, issues continued to create "ice" among collectives. it
is feasible for anarchists and anarchists in today's circumstances to overcome the
political and social misery of a small village with feuds and gossip battles in cafes and
Indymedia. And all this, while outside the process, reality was flowing into its "normal"
form. Groups continued to collide, issues continued to create "ice" among collectives. it
is feasible for anarchists and anarchists in today's circumstances to overcome the
political and social misery of a small village with feuds and gossip battles in cafes and
Indymedia. And all this, while outside the process, reality was flowing into its "normal"
form. Groups continued to collide, issues continued to create "ice" among collectives.
The influence of the rest of the space on the project as a whole, on the collectives that
it had and on its people should not be underestimated. All groups of the organizational
venture never wanted to break away from the anarchist space: they move within it in
general, and in different fields of its own. Comrades and comrades who participated in the
federation's groups also found themselves in other ventures (clubs, neighborhood
assemblies, squats, hangouts, other assemblies). The organizational endeavor from his
first minute had to cope in addition to self-evident political criticism and a cloud
private attacks. The "work you / yourself / you / you" was a masterpiece, where "SELF" in
one way or another included almost every participant group and many of their individual
members. The process, however, with few exceptions, kept the door closed on the affections
between people and the café mug bath. But the window could not be closed. It slowly and
steadily fed a rupture background that could not be dealt with either by "good intentions"
or by procedural measures.
In vitro
Every major attempt at her legs has an important chapter for the beginning: enthusiasm.
And the organizational effort made the best use of this tool. Without it, a process of so
fermenting between political groups would be impossible. The excitement, however, once
declines, and then it is only the reality that can give the necessary fuel to replace it.
Here was, in our estimation, the greatest weakness of the process: Sterilization from the
act. The encroachment on a political test tube.
For a long time, despite the persistent suggestions made by some of the groups, it has not
been possible to agree on a parallel action plan for all those involved in the effort. The
communities conquered in theory have found no equivalent in practice. And consequently
their very significance was degraded. For anarchists the main field is the road. The road
is the one that seals the community. Without the road, a set of heterogeneous groups
remains a set of disparate groups. Since, due to the lack of joint action, it was not able
to fundamentally conquer a new community, the void of initial enthusiasm began to fill
with fatigue and the external and internal devastating influences began to conquer. To put
it simply: if you are discussing other things with others, these two will sooner or later
break.
Within the gulf of the community being formed, there was a constant controversy over the
possibility of a joint act before the conclusion of the process, expressed by specific
groups - and it would be foolish to say that it was completely absurd: the community of
action threatened to overcome the search for a political community, the process had to be
completed before going to the next stage. But also the contradictory contradiction that
came from outside and prompted us to end with the words and make a draft text to get into
the fight was also not unreasonable. But this attitude, in both versions, rational within
its linearity, ignored the dialectic nature of the struggle, the irreconcilable
relationship of theory and act, the true terms of community building, and not only
agreement or partnership.
Today we judge that the risk (which actually existed) to undermine political fermentation
through joint action should have been taken. If in the field we often see the failure of
communities based on the practice alone, the organizational venture saw the reverse
failure. And this is a very important piece of experience about how "these things are done".
To rupture
Five of the 21 teams that started in the venture have gone on track, others on political
disputes and others on procedural disputes. Given that the process was closed and until it
was completed - for two years - no new team could get in, it meant that we did 16 teams in
the project. There is a characteristic health specimen that has been preserved for the
most part of the process, which is important to note: until a few minutes before the
cleavage no poles were formed. "Common Positions" were differentiated from topic to
agenda. Groups that found them on a "table" collided with each other. The risk of facial
expression was predicted from the outset, and it was in everyone's mind. To such an extent
that after the rejection of the proposal for joint action, which
mentioned above, the groups that proposed it refrained from collaborating separately in
order not to introduce this so commonplace microbe into the revolutionary circles.
But as fatigue began to dominate after two years of cameralessness, and while external
detrimental pressures grew, the special agenda of the groups took their heads from any
community that had been built. Conflicts and remnants of the distant past have found
development ground and have transformed the last 2-3 pan-Hellenic processes into a field
of ongoing conflicts, often of very poor quality. This also contributed to the fact that
the "toughest" themes such as the federal structure were left to the end.
At the center of the rupture a central disagreement has been found with regard to the
autonomy or otherwise of the federal regions. A dispute that showed the existence of a
breach both of the physiognomy of the desired organization and of its relations with the
rest of the anarchist space and its mode of operation within it. This disagreement was a
common disagreement among revolutionary organizations throughout the history, but could
not be covered with semi-prints and artistic formalities, despite the efforts of all.
Was it inevitable, then, to divide the venture into two different forms? Yes and no.
The only way such an important dispute could perhaps be overcome would be to let the act
guide you. That is, by recording the different positions, with one side retreating in part
and with the joint commitment that if the act does not confirm the choice in the first
"experimental period" then the other way will be tested. But to do this, a strong
conquered community, a conquered trust, needs the initial enthusiasm that, when the clash
actually emerged, did not exist. In its place were formed for the first time two poles.
At the same time as the breaks between groups in Athens, Thessalonica, Patras, and where
these groups were divided in one or the other aspect of the autonomy of the regions, the
choice was either a forced "unity "Or a decent separation.
The proposal for the separation of the two forms came from groups that continued in the
Anarchist Federation and was exemplary of all, as it must be between anarchists and as is
rarely the case. And even if it sounds ironic, the daily routine of political ruptures
among collectives in the field itself highlights the importance of how an end to an
undertaking, whether it pulls everyone's path by keeping the legacy it considers its own
or whether it is circus.
The split of organizational effort marked the end of the initial organizational venture,
but at the same time highlighted its political depth and culture.
The creation of the Anarchist Federation
The split in the organizational venture led to the creation of two organizations. The
Anarchist Federation (AO) held its founding conference on 3 & 4/10/2015, starting to
function. The A.O. found itself in a difficult for the same environment: It was a success
story of a process that aspired to organize a political tendency within the anarchist
world but this, after a two-year closed process that led to a split, had become
politically impossible by having spent the capital of enthusiasm that initially had and
having failed, as close as it may have come, to overcome the structural weaknesses of its
cells, that is, the anarchist collectivities as they exist in today's circumstances.
The "relief" that we all felt when the initial goal of organizational effort led to a
result, with the founding conference being a celebration for all of us, did not provide
time for internal tolerance to solve the puzzles.
The negative climate of the last pan-Hellenic processes was inherited, along with all
other weaknesses. Still, the teams were completely heterogeneous in dynamics, processes
and priorities. Still, some groups have been committed to the pan-Hellenic venture and
some dedicated to their action. Still some groups had long internal processes oriented to
fermentation, making flesh out of their flesh all that related to the federation, while
others ran out of the "fast-paced" themes. The problem of the same specific individuals
from every college who participated in the pan-Hellenic processes and thus knew
exclusively from their collegial union the federation from its viscera, continued to
exist. It began to be unclear when the spokesperson speaks individually and when the team
collectively, with the result that often the image and physiognomy of each group depends
on the character and the temperament of their representative and consequently the serious
issues of behavioral behaviors arise. Why, as it turned out, if the tedious political
fermentation has great demands, the real struggle of an anarchist federation is even
greater. There it became clear how devastating was the absence of joint action all the time.
The A.O. at the start of it had a rich community of political content but a minimal
community of struggle. The teams had to conquer their trust, but not just that. Without a
past of joint action, no tool from what we decided as a federation structure could be
tested. All discussions about the structure and ways of operation were on paper. How
finally we will work still has one question, while it should be a response.
In addition, as part of the federation's difficulty to set up and function as we had in
mind, we must also take into account the great downturn in the anarchist movement (and the
movement more widely) from 2012 until today. At stake in the initial call of the "4
initiative" was not just the creation of an organization, it was also the strengthening of
the logic of "collectivization". The logic, that is, that wanted to overthrow a reality of
an area where the vast majority of the comrades and co-workers that make up it operate on
individual terms. We believed and believe that it is propitious for the anarchist space to
increase the dynamics of existing groups more widely, and for those who do not find
answers to these groups, to create new ones. We also saw this dynamics appear in the space
during the previous period throughout Greece. Instead, the reverse was dominated. The
space has lost some of its power-maker, and so far a prevalent spirit has prevailed, with
unending conflicts sometimes driven to extremes, a problem that runs through all the
tendencies, with the Indymedia cafes and disillusionments substituting every concept of
public war . Over the years, beyond this organizational initiative and the two schemes it
has produced, nothing else has claimed claims, political and organizational overcoming.
Nor did any mention of a "pan-Hellenic network" happen, one attempt at a "platform" did
not walk, wider thematic calls around anti-fascism, refugee or international solidarity
failed or worked fireworks.
The first year of the Anarchist Federation
In its early stages AO attempted to move dynamically. We needed to take steps to cover the
absence of our way and our fatigue. The strategic framework had already been defined with
the production of 21 points and had to be put in a straightforward way.
The first initiative after the founding conference was to organize a central refugee
course. The Athens teams addressed the Athenian area with a good response. As we could
have predicted (but still nothing else we would have done) we were directly attacked.
Severely worthwhile issues were raised from the "nowhere" for one of the collectives that
participated in the federation, entirely irrespective of political stakes. Decades of
decades that have been clearly answered since the first moment of the organizational
effort have been attempted to come back with abusive and provocative terms.
There the A.O. has defined its culture regarding the handling of such intra-kinematic
conflicts. Instead of rejoining and sharpening the conflict (and we had every right and
possibility to do it), we chose to invite a political process where any accusations could
be made public and confirmed or rejected in a definitive manner.
As predicted, there was no response. What, however, was also important for us was to
determine how we handle such conflicts: we do not start paper money, we are not involved
in battleships in bathtubs. We are prepared to respond to political issues only through
political processes geared to their final solution. If this is not feasible, we prefer
silence. Our perception of political time is about years, it does not involve quarterly
gossip battles in the social influence networks of the area.
But the problem did not stop there. Shortly after the challenge to the refugee initiative,
the same protagonists made an even greater challenge. A comradeship, member of one of our
collectives, received a violent, conscious, and targeted attack during episodes of
Gregoropoulos' assassination anniversary.
As logical, in such an event the first reason was his collectivity, with A.O. of course,
to support collegiality in the political processes that have been called. The overall
management of the second challenge was based on the same framework as the first. Although
there was every possibility (and great temptation) to respond in the known ways in the
field, the strictly political way was again chosen. Procedures and procedures only.
Unfulfilled once again.
Here, however, the internal problem of AO was also revealed: the heterogeneity of the
groups. Although the affected collectivity, despite the emotional load, followed the
essence of the general framework of the AO. on the management of such intra-kinematic
conflicts, failed in the formulas. The demonstration of arithmetic power in its processes
drew attention to the political content of its attitude and the AO.
The fact that this choice of this group offered some justification for "equal distances"
to some people within the space is not important. It is important, however, that this
attitude led to a conflict within the AO. and therefore new introversion and ruptures.
In a new conflict environment within the AO. came the events of social cannibalism in
Exarchia and the conflict with the mafias. A team of A.O. was found in the center of a
cyclone that even threatened the lives of comrades. Both the collectivity itself and, more
than that, the AA. found unprepared. Despite the enormous range of internal fermentation,
the issue of social cannibalism, the flanking issues it raised, and the means of defense
against him had not been dealt with. At the same time, other non-Athens teams objectively
had very little opportunity to offer on an issue that they themselves felt as important
because it concerned the physical integrity of members of the AO. As the fight against the
mafias progressed, diverging tendencies and disagreements emerged for manipulations or the
means of struggle,
The overall climate was again unpleasant. The events in Athens were causing embarrassment
to groups other than those who were unable to understand all aspects of the issue and had
to give political responses to their regions while resisting the pressures of the social
networks of influence.
Confidence in the interior of the Athens area was lost, individual choices and bad
behaviors of group representatives inside and outside of the processes constantly poured
oil into the fire, and the crisis was transferred to the interior of the groups.
Objectively, the region of Athens has created shocks in the whole of the AO. and
reproduced, inadvertently, the Athenian-centric curse that characterizes Greek reality,
whether it concerns the state or the place. In fact, collegiates in Athens were in open
conflict with each other, while those outside it ended up staring at the former to intermarry.
The end of the first year of the AO in the summer of 2016 found it in a poor state: few
actions and anecdotal initiatives far below the circumstances were undertaken, while the
self-dissolution of some groups and the withdrawal of some others led the federation to a
significant shrinkage.
The 2nd year
However, A.O. survived. This has not happened at random, nor could it simply happen "to
avoid losing so much effort". The necessity of superior organizational formation, in the
wake of the recession of the movement, became even more imperative. In spite of the
group's co-operations and fronts, the federations' collectivities participated and
participated, all assessed that participation in a nationwide scheme was, in the long run,
indispensable to the case. So, knowing that every new organizational effort would have to
go back on the same long way, and when the crisis produced a lot of lost revolutionary
opportunities, we were again thrown into the effort.
On the other hand, this whole story changed decisively and separately the collectives that
participated, but also the AO itself as a whole. The political / ideological arsenal of
the teams has made leaps and great experience has been conquered at the level of
procedures. So we rolled back and started again, even with somewhat lowered wings.
In the second year, at last in an internal environment of trust and companionship, we
chose to take measured initiatives. The issue of screaming, the auctions, the Corkonas
trial, solidarity with the Kurds and Turkish militants in Syria and Turkey, our presence
on the road in the days of General Strikes and the vote on new measures, the stabilization
of our presence in major political appointments, the TIF and the November 17th, the
expression of political discourse at a rapid pace on topical issues, the acceleration of
decisions and greater efficiency, the improvement of our infrastructures ...
The absence of groups formerly more devoted to the federation than others that remained
was decisive at the level of procedures, but on the other hand it improved homogeneity,
since now the A.O. consisted of groups that are predominantly looking outward with a rich
racing presence and kinematic interventions. Homogeneity and community sentiment has also
greatly improved from member mobility by an AO group. in another, but also by the
interrelationships and actions between the groups, which is the aim and tool of the AO itself.
Both for the A.O. as well as for the groups that make up it, one thing is for us: we want
collaborations to be action-oriented and competitive. At the same time, political
fermentation is continuing and widening. Both regular and current analyzes issues and for
broader political / theoretical, rather than at the level of "what issues we imagine that
we have to agree," but what our issues raised our common course all this time, what you
need to agree to we produce more and more effective social revolutionary struggle.
The second year of AO, the one that based on initial desires should have been its growth
time, was found to be the time that determined its survival. This goal was imposed by the
Treaty first of all on our own shortcomings and weaknesses as well as on the social and
kinematic recession. We have achieved this goal.
Two words about the social-political conjuncture in which the venture was created and
experimented
The spiral of the global capitalist crisis, which its impact struck a few months after the
December uprising, led the Greek state administration to the formal -more- tradition of
state keys to the international board. For seven years, at regular intervals state and
capital "bite" and a new piece of the last means of survival of the world of labor. It
looks like a natural phenomenon every 1.5 years, after a "tough" period of supposed
negotiations between the Greek state and its patrons, the EU and the IMF, the announcement
of new cuts in wages and pensions, the loss of new labor rights, our class is increasingly
underestimated. Not even the phraseology changes from PASOK to SW and from SW to SYRIZANEL.
The state has continued. The parties that occupy the post in the regime sooner or later
throw the mantle they used to win the election and stay in the uniform of power to do what
the state and the capital have to do to continue to distract them from down. As every
government has to do, SYRIZA has been forced to attack the internal and external enemy. In
this regard, in the world of struggle, those who resist the barbarity imposed by the
coordinated state and capital on immigrants, that is, the modern scapegoat.
The squabbles of squatting, the police crackdown on marching and demonstrations, the
prosecution, the tortured trials and the murderous sentences imposed on anarchists, even
to their relatives, the "hardening" of the conditions of imprisonment (with a more blatant
example of the vote a new correctional code) and the systematic obstruction / obstruction
of the licensing of political prisoners under the extortion of the declaration of
political repentance protects the above-mentioned treaty.
Within this political setting, SYRIZA did what it promised. Not to us. But in the regime
that is always served by the left wing and social democracy. He dismayed the momentum of
the social counterattack of the first monumental years, dragged her into the humiliation
of the ballot box and then exchanged it with a position not only in power today, but also
as a constant pole of the new bi-mathematics in the years to come. Not too bad for
Euro-communists of 4%, very bad for all of us. Why is the best way to get used to your
chains that he promises to tell you that it is ultimately necessary to take them. SYRIZA
was the best gift, the surest solution for the state and the capital that in the
historical period we have been living has decided to "gather" everything.
In recent years I have been referring to the ruling classes, without social unrest and
without resistances. Very soon the discontinuity between the illusion that expressed the
SYRIZA program (and any similar social-democratic program of the continuation of
capitalist barbarity with a "human face") to the reality of modern capitalism was
revealed. Its failure reaffirms the only truth that can easily be derived from the real
facts: on the territory of the current universal capitalist crisis two paths are opened,
either accepting the terms of global totalitarianism or the Social Revolution. Average
road does not exist.
For our class, these years were years of retreat. The attack she received did not turn it
into "previous centuries" and "mediums" - instead she outlined and highlighted the image
of her future. A future full-fledged state and capital attack on work, insurance, social
freedoms, the environment and social goods. After the cuts in wages and pensions, the cuts
in all public benefits, the gradual abolition of the Sunday holiday, the increase in
taxation, the rise in prices for basic goods, the change in the insurance system came, the
social security first-time auctions and the new labor bill that blocks the right to strike
and challenges the collective workers' bodies.
The supposed anti-monumental bloc, therefore, has just assumed the power of power voted
with hands and feet not one, but two memorandums, and continues indefinitely. Nothing
succeeded it as a dominant version of counterproposal in the capitalist barbarity that is
overtaking, and the only opposition now seems to be made exclusively from the right. False
hope has succeeded in sacrifice and ultimately compromise and defeatism. Any reaction
movements were uneven and fragmented. But for the world of the fight the failure to accept
the defeat was and is - we hope - one way.
As mentioned earlier, from the earliest attempts to form the Anarchist Federation, our aim
was to create a scheme that would primarily aim at organizing an organizational proposal
within the anarchist / anti-authoritarian area but with an explicit perspective on the
second level , more effective and effective intervention and strengthening of social-class
struggles. We hope that it has already been made clear that our intention was by no means
circumcision, introversion or the "cap", but the attempt to ensure the best possible
conditions for intervention in the parts of society that may be willing to such a
fermentation. For reasons that have to do with the issues and problems encountered by the
process of creating the AO (and which we have described above) we believe that our
presence so far has been windy and fragmented, without the necessary depth and breadth,
and the similar methodality that would require this. To put it briefly, in an increasingly
pressing social situation, our intervention on the central political scene and in the
struggles in question was clearly incomplete.
In November 2015, the Federation published its "21 points", its organizational, tactical
and strategic goals at the juncture. Within this text, the following two objectives were
achieved:
" Organized presence of the federation in the great moments of central presence on the
road (1st May, Polytechnic, strike strikes, etc.)" and
" Reason and presence in the central political scene and the issues that this creates as
topicality. The anarchist federation as one of the peaks of the anarchist movement in a
distinct and recognizable way intervenes by promoting its perceptions and propagating
anarchist race choices. "
Can the weaknesses of the Federation lead us to not always be possible or sufficient to
intervene or to be made by member collectives and not by the Federation as a whole, but
for all of us, these goals remain topical and we put them for the next period.
The Anarchist Federation from here on
As we have already seen, the organizational stance of the anarchist movement in Greece
(dishonor, inter-momental conflicts, etc.) makes the ground even harder for our efforts.
Chronic organizational weakness and the historical absence of an anarchist political body
is a legacy that creates rather suspicion of the venture, rather than a desire for
collectivization and a willingness for personal and therefore collective involvement. At
least for a large part of our political space.
From the experience of the past, it became evident that every new political
organizational project in Greece is transformed from its first steps into a "gladiator".
Unfortunately, the first arena in which to stand is the arena of "space". We are trying to
cope, but we have to admit that we can not artificially overcome the physical limits of
our political space. Sincerely, therefore, to comrades and comrades outside of AO, faith
and commitment to the anarchist struggle, we are rebuilding and continuing our effort by
evaluating our mistakes and our shortcomings.
The very reality of these deficiencies has forced us one year of experimental operation to
double. However, as soon as it came to an end, A.O. is preparing its first regular congress.
Far from the initial volunteer goal of unifying a political tendency in the anarchist
movement, AO. is now an anarchist revolutionary organization that is expressed both by the
individual instances of the groups that make up it and by its own mechanism and its
unified presence. We know that trust and companionship require a continuous and painful
process to build and then lead to organizational robustness and efficiency. Especially
within an area dominated by the occasional partnership between individual-autonomous
societies or individuals and not a steady synergy in the demanding framework of an
anarchist political entity.
We choose to operate with a non-centralized model offering to the collectors of the A.O. a
substantial autonomy of action and reason - an autonomy that builds the Federation from
bottom to top. In this way, it releases itself and its cells from the
inhibiting-action-element of the "stamp" in every single move and initiative. The
Federation operates primarily as a coordinating, fermenting and strategic design body.
Wanting to grow it with the advent of existing collectivities or the targeted creation of
new ones, AO is an organized strategic community based on the wealth that its cells
produce, requiring the asterisks non-starved acceptance of these cells and companionship
among members of them,
The upcoming conference will focus on issues that affect both its political identity and
its structure. However, while conferences are moments of great symbolic significance and
political impact, in reality the issues to be solved are solved in a long-term
co-operation rather than in a moment.
And, of course, problems continue to exist. Economically, we always have shortcomings. The
teams have great differences in their dynamics. Individuals from groups continue to bear a
disproportionate burden on the operation of the AO. Structures, which due to the
participation of a few collectives are simplified, are doubtful how much they will respond
as well as more teams. Moreover, the formula has not yet been found that will allow
individuals to participate in the project, something we have been discussing for years.
And if it is finally found, we will find ourselves there in the face of improper lands.
The themes of our interventions remain limited, with an emphasis on class but absence in
many other critical areas. We have not achieved the fullness of our presence in central
political events. We have profoundly exploited the wealth of possibilities and
'specializations' of the participating teams and their members. There is still a lot of
work to be done on conflicting relationships and initiatives. Unlike the groups that
compose it, A.O. has so far had zero relations with the international anarchist movement.
Such are, therefore, the issues that AO will have to resolve. the next session of the
conference.
Revolutionary history has shown the importance and necessity of revolutionary
organizations and the upsurge to go. If at some point our uphill drifts, if the enthusiasm
is lost, if the partnerships break up, if the need is replaced by the sadness that "our
effort is gone," then we certainly will not care to keep the sign of a non-existent
political shop in terms of graphical leaning. We know that we got involved: we joined the
social revolution, the anarchy, as well as hundreds of other comrades and comrades who
collectively or individually have chosen other roads. This is the goal of the AO. and all
political collectivities involved in it: victory, social and individual liberation, the
realization of anarchy.
Anarchist Federation
anarchist-federation.gr
info@anarchist-federation.gr
twitter: witter.com/anarchistfedGr
fb: facebook.com/anarxikiomospondia2015/
------------------------------
Message: 4
Friends and comrades in the health care sector have initiated the Health Sector Workers
Network (Aotearoa/New Zealand). ---- According to one of their websites the "...Health
Sector Workers Network collective aims include agitating for better conditions for people
- both those using and delivering health services. We also believe in the collective
capacity of working people to organise and make change through our own ability. Sometimes
this will mean promoting a vision that clashes with institutions. We do this with a desire
of building not only a better health system but a richer and healthier society with mutual
aid and caring at it's core."[https://medium.com/health-sector-workers-network/about] ----
Additionally, the "HSWN represents Solidarity between all health sector workers,
occupations and unions, including non unionised workers."
The HSWN aims to bring about "[p]ositive change through the self activity of all those
working in the health sector." And act as "A counter-voice to capitalist interests in our
health sector and communities."[http://hswn.org.nz]
Over the past months the HSWN have been engaged in the following activities and struggles:
o organised solidarity rallies for the striking Junior Doctors, joining their
protest/pickets when they have twice been on strike.
o organised street collections for Ambos from FIRST Union and from doing so been effective
in helping them win a backdown from St John on the 10% wage deduction for taking low level
industrial action.
o participated as first aiders at a blockade of a weapons conference in Auckland.
o participated in direct actions to prevent the eviction of a tenant from a state house.
o put out a number of solidarity statements in support of other health sector workers
direct actions i.e. Junior Doctors and Ambos.
o organised an education evening in Auckland.
[Source:
https://libcom.org/blog/interview-health-sector-workers-network-aotearoanew-zealand-26022017]
Interested health care workers in New Zealand/Aoteara (as well as global health care
workers who share a similar vision) may want to contact the HSWN at: contact@hswn.org.nz
http://ideasandaction.info/2018/01/zealandaoteara/
------------------------------
Message: 5
The Anarchist Federation's sister organisation in Argentina, the Federación Libertaria
Argentina (FLA-IFA) is calling for protests against the Argentinian government and the
international clothing company Benetton during the week of 29th of January to 4th of
February 2018. ---- Ironically, the slogan ‘United Colours of Benetton' portrays the
company as ethnically diverse and anti-racist in its core statement of values. In fact, it
is buying huge areas of land in Argentina, stolen in the first place from the indigenous
Mapuche people in Chile and Argentina. Mapuche activists and others taking a stand against
this have been designated ‘terrorists' by the state ("RAM report" of the Ministry of
National Security) in an attempt to undermine support for them and justify further
repression. In August, the anarchist Santiago Maldonado was abducted and found murdered.
Another comrade Rafael Nahuel, was also killed but is receiving less attention in the
media. Anarchists and the Mapuche people ask for our support to defend their comrades and
communities.
The following statement is endorsed by the International of Anarchist Federations, of
which the Anarchist Federation is a member. Below it you will find a link to a communiqué
issued in December signed by the FLA and many other organisations in response to the
state's RAM report.
HONOR TO THE ANARCHIST COMRADE SANTIAGO MALDONADO WHO WAS ABDUCTED AND MURDERED BY THE
ARGENTINIAN STATE AND TO RAFAEL NAHUEL OF COLECTIVO AL MARGEN SHOT DEAD BY POLICE DURING A
LAND EVICTION
On 1st August 2017, at the province of Chubut in the Argentinian Patagonia, a community of
the Mapuche indigenous people, together with people in solidarity with them, blocked a
street in the area near Benetton's headquarters, in protest against the acquisition of the
Mapuche territory by the company. Police forces attacked the demonstration with gunshots
while the protesters were trying to defend themselves.
During the police operation, the anarchist activist Santiago Maldonado was arrested,
forced violently into a white van - witnessed by many people - and abducted, since from
that point on he went missing. Two months later, his body was found in a river in
Patagonia, a brutal reminder of the 30,000 people who were "disappeared" during the Junta
period, an enduring mark in Argentinian history preserved in collective memory in a way
similar to nazi crimes.
The comrade's abduction had triggered a large number of dynamic mobilizations throughout
Argentina, demanding Santiago's return. Meanwhile, the state, the police and the media
engaged in a campaign aiming to criminalize the resisting Mapuche community and the
anarchists and denied any responsibility for the comrade's abduction, while focusing their
propaganda on conspiracy theories around the comrade's disappearance or on targeting all
those who stand against the bosses' plans, and especially the anarchists, as the "internal
enemy" and a threat to the state.
The indigenous Mapuche communities - in Chile and Argentina- are struggling to defend
their territory from the plundering and destruction brought upon them by the large
multinational corporations which are granted with these lands by the state. These are the
same territories that the state had seized from the indigenous people through a series of
wars and genocides since the time of the "conquest" of the American continent. In their
struggle, they have faced the persecutions, the imprisonments and the violence of both the
repression mechanisms and the parastatal gangs which operate on behalf of the bosses on
both sides of the Andes. In Chubut, a large part of the Mapuche communities claim their
territories, now owned by Benetton, which is only 1/3 of the total 900,000 hectares they
have bought throughout the country.
Santiago was murdered because, as an anarchist, he chose to stand up and fight on the side
of indigenous people, he chose to stand by the side of the exploited against the torturers
and murderers of the repression forces, against the destructive and antisocial plans of
the state and economic elites.
Rafael Nahuel was a young person of Mapache descent, member of a collective called
Coletivo Al Margen. He took part in protests in defence of the Mapuche people. On the 25
November 2017, the day of the burial of Santiago Maldonado, the police force mounted
another eviction of Mapuche territory. The people there, including Rafael, were attacked
with lead and rubber bullets and pepper spray. A woman and Rafael were both shot with with
lead bullets. The woman survived, but Rafael died.
Comrades Santiago Maldonado and Rafael Nahuel will be present in the ongoing struggles in
every corner of the earth as all those who gave their lives fighting for a free and just
world without inequality, exploitation and repression...
International Solidarity...
-with our comrades in Argentina who are resisting to the repression of the Argentinian state
-with the Mapuche communities and with all the indigenous people who are defending their
land from the exploitation of the modern conquistadores of Benetton.
Rafael Nahuel
(Where is) Santiago Maldonado
COMMUNIQUÉ REGARDING THE ARGENTINIAN GOVERNMENT REPORT CONCERNING THE ANCESTRAL MAPAUCHE
RESISTANCE (RAM) THE TERRORIST IS THE STATE
https://freedomnews.org.uk/argentina-an-open-letter-against-repression-of-the-mapuche/
http://www.afed.org.uk/2018/01/21/transnational-anarchists-in-solidarity-with-mapuche-people-week-of-protest-called-on-29th-of-january-to-4th-of-february-2018/
------------------------------
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Anarchic update news all over the world - Part One - 28.01.2018
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