Today's Topics:
1. [Spain] "Free Women": the anarchists who revolutionized the
working class By ANA (pt) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. Libertario Paraná: COMMUNIQUÉ about THE REPORT TITLED
"RAM" - TERRORIST IS THE STATE (ca) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Book Review From Rebel Worker*: Left of the Left: My
Memories of Sam Dolgoff By Anatole Dolgoff (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. France, Alternative Libertaire AL Décembre -
CGT-Metallurgy: Towards a syndicalism of expertise ? (fr, it, pt)
[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. France, Alternative Libertaire AL Décembre - A book on
contemporary fascism: "Dark Times" (fr, it, pt) [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. France, Alternative Libertaire AL - logbook, A libertarian
communist in YPG # 16: " I draw my bow, the fight goes on ! "
(fr, it, pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. anarkismo.net: Where is the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
heading? by Zaher Baher (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
8. Britain, freedom news: Solidarity with prisoners on New
Year's Eve (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
At the end of the Second Republic some 21,000 anarchists grouped together to form the
first radical feminist movement of authentic popular base in Spain. One of the precursor
groups of claims for the liberation of gender that, so many years later, continue present
in the present time. ---- By Beatriz Asuar Gallego ---- It is said that the story is
written by the winners, but what is not said is that the winners, almost in their
entirety, are men. And it is not even said that they often forget women: if we look back
and think of the great moments of humanity's change, or of the great revolutions, no or
almost no woman's name comes to mind. ---- The history of Spain was no less harsh with
women, burying for many years the role they played during the country's most rebellious
era, the Civil War. However, social organizations constantly try to fill a gap in our
collective memory, and face forgetting. As an example, the CGT and Anarchist Women with
the Association of "Free Women", which in this 2017 makes 80 years of its foundation. An
organization that was then formed as the first radical feminist movement of authentic
popular base and precursor in the struggle for claims that, so many years later, still
present today.
How were they born? At the end of the Second Republic in a political and cultural dynamic
that opened new possibilities for the participation of women in the social struggle. The
CNT, National Confederation of Labor, was since 1910 the main trade union center guided by
anarchism, from which the CGT was later derived. A union that had a large presence of
women and recognized basic labor rights as economic freedom or equal pay, but which almost
did not think of initiatives of specific struggles.
At this, women needed to make their own way. In Barcelona, the main nucleus of the
anarchist movement, was founded in 1934 the Women's Cultural Group, a pioneer in the
articulations of women within the union. But the outbreak of civil war changed the pace of
the formations, advanced and decided to create their own organization. On May 2, 1936,
several women published the first issue of the magazine "Mujeres Libres", which, as
reported by Paula Ruíz Roa, responsible for the CGT Women's Secretariat "served as a basis
for the constitution of the libertarian group and the organization of its first and the
only congress, which they could hold in August 1937. " In a short time, there were 147
local groups and 21,000 affiliated women.
The first autonomous group of women
Since its inception, "Mujeres Libres" has formed as a totally autonomous group. Most of
them militants, were already part of other organizations of the libertarian movement -
CNT, FAI, Libertadores Youth -, however, did not subordinate to any of the previous
structures.
This was a battle of the anarchists for the rejection that generated within the
libertarian movement a women-only organization: "It was they who showed that it was
necessary to separate organizations of the entire working class from women's organizations
to differentiate the claims of both, because within of the struggle of the working class
was not given the importance they had, "explains the current secretary of the CGT, José
Manuel Muñoz Póliz.
American writer and historian Martha Ackelsberg points out that the organization's
greatest achievement was to be the "pioneer among feminist organizations" and to "unite
the struggle against capitalist exploitation with patriarchal oppression." Thus, "Free
Women" followed the ideological line of the CNT, but developed its own objective: to
emancipate the woman from the triple slavery, "slavery of ignorance, woman slavery and
production slavery." With the beginning of the war, they proposed another goal, "to
collaborate with an orderly and efficient aid in the defense of the Republic".
Claims still present today
"What strikes the most in this group is how they put the problem of women. Especially at
that time, with themes that range from the abolition of prostitution to mixed education,
popular canteens or day care, or free love. Claims that reach the majority of the left
much later, in the 70's, "says the Brazilian historian Thiago Lemos Silva, who studied for
more than ten years the history of this grouping.
From the outset, they claimed the importance of incorporating women into paid work,
performing multiple jobs, as well as back-up activities: from literacy to job training in
all sectors of work. And, so that this incorporation was not a double burden for women,
they complained - as well as now - and started popular eaters and day care centers in the
workplace.
They broke away from the idea that home and conjugal relationships were private: they
fervently denounced control within married life from the state and the Catholic Church.
They proclaimed free love and denounced that the traditional model of family fosters
inequality. On the one hand, because they maintain the economic dependencies on which the
patriarchy stands. On the other, because it supports the submission of women to men within
the family for which they had no right to express themselves in it.
Another of the themes that most stood out was child education. They ensured that in
schools a mentality framed by bourgeois values was acquired, so it was essential that
education should be a total turning point in the development of a school for freedom.
Within education, moreover, they called for the need for sex education, addressing topics
that had hitherto been taboo, such as contraceptive methods or abortion.
The repression against the anarchists
As with almost all revolutionary groups the repression during the war by the Francoist
troops were colossal. But with the groups of women like this who assumed a double danger
in fighting not only for the emancipation of the working class, but also for the
emancipation of the woman.
It seems impossible to document the exact number of women who have gone through the ordeal
of torture, murder, disappearances and sexual violence. But yes, we know that as with most
militiamen and militants, the members of "Mujeres Libres" ended up in prison, in exile,
or, at best, subjected to absolute silence denying that they had participated in this
organization. Not even, from the outside, in exile, they managed to maintain organized
structures in the clandestine, reason why at the three years, in 1939, "Free Women" ended
up dissolving. Although they have maintained a legacy: "they have created a great desire
in the women of freedom for all of us", affirms Ruíz Roa. And so, as Thiago also points
out, "one must know the history of these women in order to question machismo."
Source:
http://www.publico.es/politica/memoria-publica/80-anos-mujeres-libres-xxx-mujeres-libres-anarquistas-revolucionaron-club-obrera.html
Translation> Sol de Abril
Related Items:
https://noticiasanarquistas.noblogs.org/post/2017/12/14/espanha-a-historica-revista-mujeres-libres-1936-1938-an-established-in-internet/
https://noticiasanarquistas.noblogs.org/post/2017/12/09/espanha-lancamento-lutaram-contra-a-hidri-do-patriarcado-mulheres-livres-de-nekane-jurado/
https://noticiasanarquistas.noblogs.org/post/2017/09/26/espanha-relationship-women-free-orange-of-marath-ackelsberg/
------------------------------
Message: 2
The 27/12 was publicly released by official media, a 180-page report entitled RAM,
prepared by the ministry of security of the nation in conjunction with the provincial
governments of río negro, neuquén and chubut, where To criminalize, demonize and persecute
the mapuche who organize and resist, to social activists, to the left and to anarchism.
---- By deliberately unfounded characterizations and based on elements of judicial
investigations which have not yet been closed but have been presented as evidence of "the
violence and danger" of the ram group (mapuche ancestral resistance), the unacceptable
fascist and minister bullrich states that, Called Ram is "a movement that promotes the
struggle and does not recognize the Argentine state and the laws of the provinces". this
report also links several groups as if they had some kind of relationship and as if, a
priori, they had Committed some crime when their only actions were solidarity against the
brutal repression of mapuche communities which already left a balance of 2 Dead: Santiago
Maldonado and Rafael Nahuel.
In the reference report, 96 judicial cases are linked from 2010 onwards, all open or even
closed due to lack of merit, and various popular demonstrations and public activities, as
if they were developed in the The same group called ram; mixing confusedly anarchist
political organizations and alternative media. These judicial assemblies were also driven
by the state in Brazil, Spain and chile to libertarian and other luchadorxs.
The State again tries to demonize and divide various popular movements, with the aim of
creating an internal enemy, a scapegoat that justifies the spiralling repression of social
protest against the permanent anti-grassroots measures that lead. They try to install to
criticize and organize in front of the unjust murders that their mismxs committed outside,
in itself, a criminal act. It seems that solidarity with the Kurdish movement, which is
facing the worst of ISIS, involves terrorism. They want a common sense where they are
fighting for their work or education, or in solidarity for the rights of all, they are
criminals.
At the same time, trying to tarnish the image of the mapuche people, the report accuses
them of "Ethno-nationalists" for fighting the historical colonialism that the Argentine
and Chilean States unleashed on the indigenous peoples in extermination campaigns and the
dispossession of the territory They do not care for powerful businessmen and large
international Capitals, gambling to sow confusion and contribute to strengthening racism
still in force.
We reject, in every sense, the unfounded and malicious allegations of the ministry of
security and the provincial governments of chubut, Río Negro and neuquén and we sympathise
with the organizations and people of different sectors of the people. This report and its
political intent is the re-trick of the government to change against the huge
mobilizations felt by the life of Santiago Maldonado, for the order of justice for the
murder of Rafael Nahuel and for the legitimate self-defence he exerted in this hot
December and on the streets the most vulnerable working people: Jubiladxs and women who
receive the universal child allowance, and left a balance of at least 4 popular militants
with the loss of eye vision. Where's the showdown? It is the return that they bring us
because they do not know how to deal with the worthy organization and repudiation of the
peoples who, by little, begin to say enough! And to put a brake on adjustment policies.
And it is that the repressive plan goes hand in hand with the reform package and the
cheaper of the workforce they want to install in the Latin American region.
Since the ministry of security agreed to form a joint commission and joint operational
command, composed of federal and provincial forces of chubut, Río Negro and neuquen where
they also promise to use the judicial apparatus to adjudicate before there is an
investigation (as is indeed the case "report"), or make unconstitutional double judgments
as in the case of Facundo Jones Huala, but endorsed media. The Color data of the report is
that it appears as proof of the violence used by ram, the court held on August 1 for the
freedom of facundo, photo where it is expressly viewed to Santiago Maldonado, who was then
murdered by the bestial Repression of 130 gendarmes against 10 partners. They appear as
evidence too, working tools like saws, screwdrivers, stones, a gross mockery.
About the report and who aims to criminalize
The list of people and organizations involved directly or indirectly with ram is long and
tedious, outrageous because every day we put our strength to lift a world where the
patriarchal, racist, capitalist, injustice, from originating communities like From, trade
unions, feminists, human rights, trade unions, and social. To all of you / your fighters /
is popular we provide our solidarity with the demonization of the government to change and
we call on social organizations to repudiate and curb this miserable scenario they are
preparing.
As a means of contributing to information, we disseminate what appears in the report of
the ministry of security:
https://es.scribd.com/.../RAM-Informe-conjunto-realizado-entr...
- people who appear as prominent members of the RAM: Moira Millán (women from good
living-community catch mahuiza); Facundo Jones Huala (pu lof in resistance)
- organizations / media that are mentioned as linked to RAM:
Argentine Libertarian Federation; regional anarchist collective la plata; Libertarian
socialist action; Irpgf (popular revolutionary people's guerrilla force) - Syria -;
Kurdistan Latin America (News Portal)
- organizations / media that are linked to ram for demonstrating solidarity with the
Kurdish people who struggle for their self-determination:
FM 99.5 program Zumba the mob, (Rnma); editorial sudestada; the churqui, cultural center,
Moreno; socialist convergence; Anarchist Federation of Rosario
- organizations that are directly linked by allegedly financing ram:
Tie; Ipes (Social Rights Promotion Institute)
- organization that is directly linked to ram, for alleged military training:
Farc-Colombia -
And a shameful list of at least 20 people, some simply by police identification, others by
arrests in demonstrations or arbitrarily, are presented to the ministry of security as
part of the ram's actions.
Patricia Bullrich (Minister of security), the government of Mauritius Macri and the
provincial governments of Mariano Arcioni (Chubut), Omar Gutierrez (Neuquén) and Alberto
Weretilneck (Río Negro), are responsible for intimidation, threats, and any danger Let
them expose us to their repressive forces.
No more mounts!
Freedom To Facundo Jones Huala!
Justice for Santiago Maldonado and Rafael Nahuel!
The ones who fight!
https://www.facebook.com/espaciolibertarioparana/posts/894036084103466
------------------------------
Message: 3
The advent of the Trump Administration in the US has witnessed more waves of attacks on
civil liberties, more intense police repression, more tax cuts favouring the rich, the
beefing up of the military and a range of other onslaughts. Employers have been encouraged
to intensify their war path against workers on the job. Whilst an important base of
support of the Trump electoral campaign has been demoralised workers in the "rust belt"
hard hit by de-industrialisation. Lately Trump has even been whipping up support from
ultra right wing forces by his provocative tweets. The union bureaucracy associated with
the AFL-CIO-CIA has typically announced its willingness to "work" with the Trump
administration. ---- The syndicalist movement and the so called anarchist milieu is
currently in a poor state, unable to tackle the increased tempo of the employer offensive
associated with the Trump presidency. According to a major article in the Summer edition
2017 of "Industrial Worker" paper of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) a major
tendency in the organisation is associated with the oppression mongering and enthusiasm
for identity politics which is such a feature of the middle class leftist subculture.
Interwoven with this tendency is the influence of much Stalinist legacy informed "navel
gazing" associated with "safe spaces policies" featuring in many IWW locals and the so
called "anarchist" milieu. This tendency in the IWW, however is being confronted by an
industrial organising approach.
A major contribution to this unwholesome influence of the former tendency must be seen in
regard to the IWW's resurgence in the 1960s stemming from a major influx of radical
students and workers with high levels of autonomy in their jobs associated with the
education and the university milieu. Constituting a significant base of its membership. As
a result, the resurgent IWW lacked the core of highly experienced militants which played
such a dynamic role in its formation and expansion in the early 20th century.
"Incremental Shop" Versus "Strategic" Organising
The contemporary IWW pursues all manner of organising drives in diverse sectors Whilst for
many years has engaged in a sort of incremental organising of mainly small shops oriented
toward winning contracts which have had no-strike clauses. Where there has been success in
this approach, the result has been a situation similar to shops organised by some sections
of the corporate unions with a largely passive membership. Effectively in these shops the
IWW had become a micro democratic version of the corporate unions. (1)
Whilst another focus by Wobblies and some in the so called "anarchist" milieu has been
"solidarity networks". Where relatively small groups of workers are assisted with
grievances. A role performed by the corporate unions on occasion, which in no way raises
the morale of workers on a large scale and plays into the role of activoid super heroes
and pseudo social workers. It fits neatly into middle class leftist oppression mongering
and guilt tripping, providing excuses for social occasions and has nothing to do with
serious syndicalist industrial organising. Again this activity is very much in the orbit
of corporate unionism. The corporate unions are effectively having their normal work
fanned out to leftist activoids, who do it for free.
In sharp contrast, key militants of the IWW in its early days, displayed an excellent
grasp of strategic organising and the associated deployment of limited personnel and
resources in key sectors. Success in this organising would facilitate the winning of major
victories in the class struggle raising the morale of workers across industries, slowing
the tempo of the employer offensive and turning the tide in the class struggle.
Facilitating strike waves and the emergence of transitional steps toward mass syndicalist
industrial unionism. This orientation is illustrated with the IWW's organising drives in
the Philadelphia maritime sector up until the mid 20's and the Detroit auto industry in
1937. This memoir of Sam Dolgoff throws important light on this and other organising
issues which are critical to a resurgent mass syndicalist union movement.
This memoir by Sam Dolgoff's son, Anatole sheds light on his father's many years of
militancy in the IWW and various socialist and anarchist groups. After initially being
involved in the Socialist Party, he was expelled as he was critical of the careerism of
its middle class and student members and statism. Dolgoff went on to be involved in a
range of anarchist and syndicalist groups.
In the early to mid 1920's he joined the syndicalist IWW. The author shows he became drawn
into its strategic organising and associated major organising controversies in the
organisation. Dolgoff played an important role in the IWW organising drive amongst soft
coal miners in South Illinois in the 1920's which resulted in the Progressive Mine Workers
Union (PMWU) becoming closely associated with the IWW. Dolgoff played a very effective
role as a soap boxer helping defeat the well funded and resourced Communist Party United
Mine Workers Union attempt to make inroads in the base of the PMWU.
"Taft-Hartley" Pledges
A major organising controversy in the IWW involving Dolgoff discussed in the book which
touched on the question of strategic organising versus a simplistic incremental growth in
non strategic sectors was associated with the loss of the Cleveland Metal Shops in the mid
1950's. A major contributing factor to a devastating IWW split in the mid 1950's. It is
discussed in a quote from an analysis by Jeff Stein. It involves the issue of whether IWW
shops should sign the anti-radical Taft-Hartley Act pledges. Dolgoff and others opposed
the signing of these pledges due to the obvious contradicting of the IWW's revolutionary
aims. According to Stein this stance propelled this huge chunk of the remaining membership
and industrial base of the organisation to leave.
However, the Cleveland shops were all drawn into fixed term contracts in breach of the IWW
constitution. These IWW shops were also effectively marginalised, as they were surrounded
by the AFL-CIO business union covered shops cemented in placed by a vast web of contracts.
Consequently the IWW had ceased to be an expanding movement based on direct action on the
job and inspiring workers in diverse sectors to follow suit in strike waves. The IWW in
Cleveland had effectively become a micro democratic version of the business unions and had
effectively left the syndicalist fold. Whilst the original breakthrough in the Cleveland
shops stemmed from a spin-off of an unsuccessful strategic organising drive in Detroit
auto in 1937.
Sam Dolgoff is most notable in the history of US syndicalism and anarchism in the 20th
Century apart from his soap boxing and organising activity on behalf of the IWW, his
authorship and editorship of a series of important books and pamphlets on aspects of
anarchism and syndicalism, is his involvement in a range of different anarchist groups and
publications with mostly an anarcho-syndicalist orientation from the 1920's to the 1990's.
The most notable being the Vanguard Group 1932 to 1939 with its paper "Vanguard" and the
Libertarian League (mid 1950's to mid 1960's) with its publication "Views and Comments".
"The Vanguard Group"
"Vanguard" was one of the most outstanding on the international plane of anarchist
publications. Dolgoff mainly focused on labour issues with his regular "On the Class War
Front" column. It was in sharp contrast to today's exotic identity politics and oppression
mongering obsessed (2) leftist rags. The key figure in Vanguard who wrote under the pen
name SENEX was Mark Schmidt. The author shows how despite being extremely opposed to the
murderous policies of the early Bolshevik regime in Russia following the October 1917
Coup, he became drawn into the Stalinist orbit and copied their paranoid conspiratorial
ways. Contributed by the panorama of international expanding Stalinism and the rise of
Fascism in those years. The author shows these factors together with controversy over
whether to support the Allied war effort against the Axis in WWII contributed to the
demise of the group and paper. Another factor the author misses is the demoralisation of
the international anarchist and syndicalist movements associated with the defeat of the
Spanish Revolution of 1936-39.
"The Libertarian League"
In regard to the Libertarian League the author discusses some of the major activities of
the group which included solidarity for overseas anarchist and syndicalist militants
facing state repression and exposing the authoritarian nature of the Castro Regime in
Cuba. The author outlines many of the interesting speakers who featured at the regular
forums of the group. However due to various factors beyond the group's control it was
unable to break out of being a small circle. The author fails to mention that it was
finally dissolved by Dolgoff and his closest collaborators due to an influx of drugs and
violence obsessed elements.
In Dolgoff's final years of militancy, the author shows he became involved in the
Libertarian Labor Review, now Anarcho-Syndicalist Review group. Its origins being amongst
a group of young militants in the IWW involved in the Rank-and-File Organising Committee.
They were influenced by Dolgoff's ideas on industrial strategy favouring the IWW linking
up with wildcat and grass roots workplace insurgencies. It opposed the IWW focusing on
incremental organising of shops based on winning contracts based on the Cleveland metal
shops experience of the 1930's-50' and NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) recognition
for shop bargaining coverage.
In conclusion, the book provides plenty of food for thought about what serious syndicalist
organising should look like and important organising controversies in the US which are
also relevant to other countries in certain aspects. Whilst providing plenty of gritty and
graphic portraits of US radicals in the 20th Century. However, the book is marred by the
author's over indulgence with some aspects of Dolgoff s private life.
Mark McGuire
Notes:
1. See Discussion on Libcom.org of the US IWW and contracts.
2. See "Fellow Worker: The Life of Fred Thompson" Edited and Compiled by David Roediger
Published by Charles H. Kerr. For a discussion of IWW organising in the Detroit Auto
Industry in the 1930's.
* Paper of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Network
Vol.35 No.3 (210) Dec.2017 - Jan.2018 www.rebelworker.org
------------------------------
Message: 4
A combativity not insignificant, but no anti-capitalist project to stop
deindustrialization ... The CGT federation of metallurgy sometimes gives the impression of
wanting to " advise decision makers ". This is not our role ! ---- Mixed atmosphere at
the 41 st congress of the CGT Federation of Metallurgy, which was held from 20 to 24
November in Dijon. Of the 485 delegates expected, only 390 made the trip. Low
participation that reflects the lack of investment of many unions in federal life. The
guidance document was very little amended. The federation hopes to improve participation
in the future by strengthening union training, and encourages elected representatives to
use at least 50 % of their discharge time to become active outside the company, whether
at the federal level or interpro.
Many unions sin indeed by excessive localism, the fold on their box ... which however does
not work in autarky !
The entire metal industry is thus threatened by the introduction of a particularly
regressive collective agreement, which could then inspire other branches. It provides for
the implementation of the "job quotation " which would allow the employer to pay the
employees no longer according to their know-how and their experience, but according to the
nature of the task. It is therefore clearly open the possibility of wage cuts as the job
changes. The federation demonstrated on October 13 to influence the negotiation, linking
this mobilization to the more general struggle against the Macron ordinances.
In the movement against the Labor law, in 2016, the CGT-Metallurgy had been quite
combative, strongly encouraging its unions to organize strikes and to forget a little sit
in the joint bodies to participate in blocking actions.
Class struggle or " growth " ?
During the opening speech of the congress, the federal secretary, Frédéric Sanchez,
advocated a " more just society " through the " overtaking of capitalism ". In a very
internationalist posture, he summoned Greece, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, India or Italy to
conclude that " whatever the country, the aspiration to fight against capitalism is the
same ". He also stressed the importance of welcoming migrant workers. However, when
called for defense inch of Social Security, we could not help but wonder: from the 2 e
conference notebook page, a pub it was for insurance ... who precisely have interest in
the retreat of the Secu !
The congress texts are also quite disconnected from the combativity expressed in 2016.
Consensual, not very demanding, they do not show a great ambition on the social and
ecological transformation of society. On the contrary, they multiply references to "
growth " and " purchasing power " ... but do not cite the class struggle once. They
also join a trend of the federation to invest in a role of trade union expertise - a
characteristic of the refocusing of the CFDT in the 1980s. A bit like during the Assises
de l'industrie, an initiative held by the CGT in last February, we will provide " advice
On public investment, research, industrial strategy ... But advising decision-makers, does
that make sense for a trade union organization, as long as industry remains, in any case,
the private property of capitalists ? [1]
Bernard (AL Auvergne)
[1] See the leaflet of AL produced at the time: " To relocate the industry: that it
changes hands ", on Alternativelibertaire.org
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?CGT-Metallurgie-Vers-un-syndicalisme-d-expertise
------------------------------
Message: 5
Temps obscurs offers a didactic analysis of the major issues of modern fascism, and can
even be a valuable tool for any activist concerned to join the fight against fascism. ----
The work of Matthieu Gallandier and Sébastien Ibo, proposes to return to the modern
fascist phenomenon, with a grid of materialistic analysis. It circumscribes this
phenomenon more than Arendt does (evoking a " totalitarian " principle, perhaps too
broad), and is part of the Marxist tradition of Daniel Guérin, who has managed to link
fascism to a socio-economic totality. and determined policy. ---- Daniel Guérin, Fascism
and Big Capital, chronic to read in Alternative libertaire of December 2014. ---- The
first chapter proposes a history of fascism. Specificity of fascism appear: the first
forms fascist policies, which appeared in France at the end of the XIX th century advocate
modernization, unlike the traditional right, conservative. Gustave Le Bon, Barrès,
Maurras, but also Boulanger, constitute the central figures of this French pre-fascism.
Specifically, the progressive development of Italian fascism and German Nazism after the
First World War is described in the context of national socio-political difficulties, and
especially during the formation of anti-worker militias. It can be seen then that these
fascisms do not develop against capital, but on the contrary that they can first serve its
intimate interests. The horror of the concentration and extermination camps, in the
context of the " final solution ", as well as the specificity of modern anti-Semitism,
are of course envisaged, as well as the tactical and cathartic function of violence.
fascist (which eventually becomes part of state violence).
The development of fascism and Nazism, in Italy and Germany, in the 1920s and 30s, is
inseparable from a crisis context: these ideologies propose a Keynesian revival policy,
and advocate an interclassist alliance. They are primarily aimed at the working classes.
Yet fascism in power eventually leads social policies favorable to the bourgeoisie,
develops a primary anti-communism, and finally proposes an ultra-nationalist
altercapitalism, set around a charismatic and authoritarian leader.
The authors insist that, by definition, this fascism can not be anti-capitalist, because
strict anti-capitalism would end up undermining its principle of interclassist national
unity (indeed, any coherent anticapitalism ends up developing social struggles against
bourgeoisie, and also remains internationalist).
It is also the failure of the traditional bourgeois parties in the face of the crisis that
has brought the fascists to power.
An anti-Semitic businessman, Alain Soral is at the head of a particular trend of the
French far right
The second chapter returns to " the new face of fascism ". It offers a contemporary
panorama. The crisis of 2008 contributes to barbarization of the exploitation, and to
favor hard austerity policies. The " third way " that constitutes the altercapitalist
extreme right finds a certain increase of energy.
Anti-Muslim racism (FN) and radical anti-Semitism (Equality and Reconciliation) define how
these extreme rights determine their principle of national unity and interclassist
alliance. The book distinguishes the great xenophobic far-right parties (FN) from the
small street groups (Ayoub). The latter claim more the fascist heritage. But these two
movements can also maintain intimate relationships. It is to this extent that the book
considers that fascism remains a current phenomenon.
The book returns to the novelties of these extreme contemporary rights: an Islamophobia
become structural. But also the pseudo-defense of the rights of women and homosexuals,
used to develop the rejection of Muslims deemed " homophobic " and " masculinist ".
In reality, far-right ideology remains fundamentally Petainist, patriarchal and
homophobic, but this superficial pinkwashing is only a means of spreading a virulent
Islamophobia. Conspiracy, and the development of the Internet, are also data that redraw
the contours of these extreme rights.
Finally, the book ends with a panorama of the territories of the extreme right: French
far-right localities are analyzed, as well as the regionalist ideology that these currents
carry. Then the international and geopolitical question posed by these extreme rights is
briefly developed. As a necessary counterpoint, an inventory of the fights against fascism
is finally exposed.
It is a pleasant book to read, didactic, without technical vocabulary, which is addressed
to any person anxious to understand the major issues of modern fascism, and the
contemporary extreme right. It focuses on the key points to remember, and can even be a
valuable tool for any activist eager to join the fight against fascism.
Benoît (AL Montpellier)
Matthieu Gallandier and Sébastien Ibo, Dark Times. Nationalism and Fascism in France and
Europe, Acratie Publishing, 164 pages, 13 euros.
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Fascisme-Temps-obscurs
------------------------------
Message: 6
" I think we should have been more numerous and more to take the plunge. Hundreds of
internationalist volunteers on the ground, while Daesh has managed to attract more than
30,000 people to "jihad" ... " ---- Libertarian Alternative reproduces the blog posts
Kurdistan-Autogestion-Revolution , travel journal of a comrade engaged in the YPG. ----
Over the weeks, he will testify to the life within the fighting militias, the debates that
take place there and the experience of the democratic confederalism in the liberated
zones. ---- Hello to all ! ---- After a long silence, I resume the pen to draw
(temporarily) my bow. ---- I left Syria and have been back in Europe for a few weeks.
After having participated in the battle of Mansourah, that I related on this blog, I
chained with that of Raqqa, capital then tomb of the caliphate. A painful, cruel,
suffocating battle ... I will not write more, for the moment, on the subject. You have
been able to read enough various reports to make an image of it.
I then spent several weeks in the back, with my classmates, where I participated in some
political and social projects, but where I also not quite decompressed. And here I am
back, after the obligatory passage by Kurdistan of Iraq, then in the middle of a tumult
following the tragicomic referendum of independence of Barzani.
Sorry for keeping such an erratic diary. I must admit that despite my good resolutions, it
was far from being my priority ... I also believe that I was not very satisfied with my
first tickets. It is difficult, when one is caught in the whirlwind of a revolution, to
produce a relevant analysis. Although the field experience is irreplaceable, it may take
some time and distance to analyze the situation more calmly.
Do I have any regrets ?
Not to have committed anyway. I think we should have been more numerous and more to take
the plunge. A few hundred internationalist volunteers on the ground, while Daesh has
managed to attract more than 30,000 people to " jihad " ... There are plenty of excuses
for not taking part in this fight. But to wait for the perfect revolution before acting is
to condemn oneself to impotence.
And then, after having shared the lives of these brave and self-sacrificing militiamen,
seen comrades fall in the fight for freedom and revolution, it is painful - it's a
euphemism - to read comments malicious or slanderous on the Internet, by rebels living ...
Let it be said: after Raqqa, nothing is finished. The revolution has never needed the
sincere support of the revolutionaries so much, while the future of Syria - and more
broadly of the Middle East - is subject to inter-imperialist tensions. Of course, we must
be critical in our support, but a criticism only comes if it is linked to a sincere and
concrete involvement in this fight. This is what sets it apart from the dilettante commentary.
In these few lines, I closed my participation in this blog and I give the keyboard to
another friend of Alternative Libertaire, who arrived in Rojava shortly before my departure.
I hope to meet you in the struggles, and during meetings that AL will organize during 2018.
See you soon !
Arthur Aberlin, December 27, 2017
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Un-communiste-libertaire-dans-les-YPG-16-Je-tire-ma-reverence-la-lutte-continue
------------------------------
Message: 7
This article is about the direction of PKK , whether getting closer to the Idea of their
leader , Ocalan, or not. In the same time it remind the supporters to the Kurdish in
Rojava and Bakur, Turkey Kurdistan, the only solidarity attitude neither correct nor
useful. They need to have a critical solidarity attitude. ---- Where is the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) heading? ---- by Zaher Baher ---- Since the Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) formed it has gone through difficult times but never like now. The best part of PKK
struggle was the period of unilateral ceasefire. That was the period when the PKK
flourished and the Kurdish people in Bakur rested. It was also a very good opportunity for
the PKK to focus on the towns and cities to organise itself better.
That was just one of the positive things that the PKK managed to achieve during the
ceasefire. In fact during this period it managed to make more contacts outside Turkey and
gained support and solidarity from many leftists, trade unionists, communists, socialists
and even anarchists. In addition, the PKK exploited the period to discuss and debate among
its members and its supporters the social movement and the idea of rejecting the nation
state. In short the PKK was on the brink of transforming itself from a military force to a
social force, from guerrilla war to civil resistance and from a fighting movement to a
social movement.
All this progress worked very well and even Rojava benefited from it until Apri 2015 when
Erdogan cut off all contact between Ocalan and the outside world. The period between April
and June 2015, was a tumultuous and fragile period in both the Kurdish territory and the
whole of Turkey. On 20/07/2015 there was a terrorist attack on the Youth Wing and the
Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF) gathering in Suruc that killed 33 people
and injured 104. This was followed by the killing of a couple of police officers allegedly
by the PKK. Erdogan and his National intelligence Organisation, MIT, welcomed this
opportunity to force the PKK to breach its ceasefire and involve them in an unwelcome war.
Since then, the PKK has been in crisis especially when embracing the announcement of war
by the State. Erdogan launched war not just against the PKK but, in fact, against all
Kurds in Turkey by increasing the level of its brutality especially after the PKK started
street fighting and resisted in many towns. The PKK announced its resistance, a positive
self-defence resistance, but in fact it was self-defeating and self-destroying. The State
of Turkey did not stop fighting the PKK and Kurds inside Turkey, but also extended its
fighting to Iraqi Kurdistan.
The PKK has given a very good excuse to the State of Turkey to show its hand and destroy
many towns and villages and kill whoever resisted its authority, by any means. It
dismantled most of the Kurdish Municipalities that were under the control of the Peoples'
Democratic Party, HPD, and the people. Over 2000 people were killed, 11 MPs arrested
including the chair and co-chair of the HDP, more than 134 members of the Municipalities
arrested, around 500,000 people displaced and evacuated and Sur, an ancient town in
Diyarbakir, (in Kurdish Amed) was almost entirely destroyed. Internationally, the US, UK,
France and Germany blamed the PKK and insisting that it was a terrorist organisation.
Their media attacked the PKK and did not cover the Turkish State atrocity against the
Kurdish people, or very little coverage. In addition, Turkish jet fighters attacked the
PKK base in the Qandil mountains and the villages at the foot of the Qandil daily from the
outset and once or twice weekly thereafter for months. This destroyed the villages,
burning and poisoning the environment and killing many Kurdish villagers and animals.
This all took place before the eyes of those same European and US governments. In fact,
they showed their support for Turkey whilst the Tory government in the UK still continued
its arms deal with Turkey.
In the end, the PKK stopped street fighting but it was too late as the war was lost with
the cost of enormous damage. Surprisingly, as far as I know up to this moment, nobody in
the PKK has taken responsibility for using these wrong tactics and changing their
strategy. And, worse than that, those so-called supporters of Rojava and Bakur were silent
about shifting the PKK to street fighting.
In my opinion, since then, the PKK has been in deep crisis. Now it is facing a couple of
choices. Either it needs to go back to where it was in the 1990s. In choosing this, it
achieves absolutely nothing apart from more killing and further destruction of Kurdistan.
Or it could simply disarm the majority of its forces and withdraw to the mountains on the
border whilst announcing a ceasefire regardless of whether or not the State of Turkey
agrees. This can be the first step to save their skin and then to encourage their
supporters in the towns and cities in the whole of Turkey to become centres for struggle
whilst building social movements. This is the only way if the PKK wants to get out of its
crisis and do something better for Kurds.
I believe this step may be extremely difficult for the PKK because, since July 2015, it
has gone backwards instead of going forwards and has moved away from Ocalan's principle
and main aim of building Democratic Confederalism . Also, at present, PKK leaders,
especially its military commanders, speak a different language to Ocalan and, maybe, from
a tiny minority in the PKK as well who talk about a Kurdish state, uniting the Kurdish
people and lots of nationalist rhetoric.
In Iraqi Kurdistan where the PKK has a very strong military base and is ideologically
strong, they have not built one single local group in the last 20 years. They have not
even worked at introducing the experiment of Rojava and Bakur to the Kurdish there. They
did not help their supporters in that part of Kurdistan to do anything more effective than
recruiting them as fighters. For me, the PKK action in Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan has
either nothing or very little to do with Ocalan's new idea.
On 23/12/2017, the top commander of the PKK, Jamil Bayik, who is also the co-chair of the
Kurdish Community Council, Jamil Bayik, was interviewed by Ronahi TV about the current
situation in Iraqi Kurdistan which has been in deep crisis since 2015 and saw huge
protests and demonstrations between 18/12/17 and 20/12/17. He said the only solution to
the crisis is " to form a new government". While it was a good opportunity for him to talk
about the roots of the problems and solutions in line with Ocalan's new idea of Democratic
Confederalism, he knows very well that what he said is not the solution because a new
government can only be formed from the current political parties while all of them are
corrupted and are agents of Iran and Turkey. They have proved that political parties
cannot bring prosperity and equality to their own people.
On 28/12/17 Murat Karaylian, the second commander of the PKK, in his interview to Chra TV
said, " They have suggestions for the crisis that Kurdish people in Iraqi Kurdistan are
facing". He believes in forming a Commission from different sides, political parties and
organisations. He suggested that the Commission could have meetings with people to find
out what, exactly, they want. However, Mr Karaylian knows full well what the people want,
but the problem is people do not get what they want under the KRG regime. He simply talks
nonsense, instead of offering their help and support to people to organise themselves
independently, just as people did in Rojava, and work towards the main gaol of Democratic
Confederalism.
So where is the PKK heading? Answering this question is not easy but the current direction
of the PKK neither benefits itself nor the Kurdish people. However, I am sure the future
will answer this question, and we may not need to wait long.
Zaherbaher.com
https://www.anarkismo.net/article/30759
------------------------------
Message: 8
Tonight anarchists will gather on both sides of the Atlantic to show solidarity with
prisoners at an often difficult time of year as they spend their time behind bars rather
than with family or friends for the holidays. ---- In London there will be demos at
Brixton and Pentonville prisons, continuing a tradition of several years, The rally at HMP
Pentonville, organised this year by Prisoners Fightback, will run from 8.30pm-9.30pm. The
larger Brixton event is being organised by the London Campaign Against Police and State
Violence and will take place from 6pm-9pm. ---- In a statement, LCAPSV said: ---- Bring
banners and something you can make some noise with (pots, pans, kitchen utensils, drums,
sirens, speakers, megaphones, horns, your voices!) ---- Black people are killed by the
state on the streets, but they are also killed under incarceration. Jimmy Mubenga was
suffocated by racist G4S security guards on an aeroplane.
Sean Rigg was asphyxiated in Brixton police station. Ricky Bishop was also killed in
police custody at Brixton police station. Sarah Campbell died within hours of arriving at
Styal Prison. 15 year old Garthe Myatt was killed by security guards at Rainsbrook Secure
Training Centre. Sarah Reed, a victim of sexual violence and police violence, died in a
cell at Holloway Prison. Between 1990-2017 just under 6,000 people have died in prison and
police custody. 33 people have died in immigration detention since 2000. Few have ever
received justice.
Where they don't kill you outright, prisons take time from you, isolate you from your
community and your family and do the same to your loved ones on the outside. This is not
done at random, but is systematically racist in its intent and practice. It is another
side of state racism that is elsewhere seen in the racist application of stop and search,
immigration law, and extra-judicial killings.
The proportion of people of African-Caribbean and African descent incarcerated here is
almost seven times greater to their share of the population. In the United States, the
proportion of black prisoners to population is about four times greater.
Incarceration is not only destructive of the lives of black men and women, but also the
men, women and children who make up their families, their friends, their lovers and their
lives. Every life destroyed inside prison includes many other lives destroyed outside of it.
Noise demos outside of prisons are a continuing tradition across the world. A way of
expressing solidarity for people imprisoned during the New Year, remembering those held
captive by the state. A noise demo breaks the isolation and alienation of the cells our
enemies create, but it does not have to stop at that. It is time to imagine a world
without incarceration, without detention, without racism and injustice. Please join us to
make noise in solidarity with those currently incarcerated and to imagine a world without
prisons.
Across the pond, the US version is going from strength to strength, with rallies in
Gainsville, Durham, Chicago, New York, Milwaukee, Omaha, Dallas and Quebec in Canada.
https://freedomnews.org.uk/solidarity-with-prisoners-on-new-years-eve/
------------------------------
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Anarchic update news all over the world - 4.01.2018
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