Anarchic update news all over the world - 22.02.2018

Today's Topics:

   
1.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL - Syria-Kurdistan, A
      libertarian communist in the IFB # 05: ecology in democratic
      confederalism (fr, it, pt) [machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  Britain, University pensions industrial action to begin on
      22nd February 2018 by Anarchist Federation. Surrey & Hampshire
      Group. (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  London Anarchist Communists: Solidarity With Russian
      Anarchists (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  Britain, solfed: Stop state repression of postal workers in
      Poland! (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
5.  Britain, afed: UNIVERSITY PENSIONS INDUSTRIAL ACTION TO
      BEGIN ON 22ND FEBRUARY 2018 (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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Message: 1





In Afrîn, one does not fight only to beat the Islamists and the Turkish imperialists ; we 
are also fighting for a different project of society: democratic confederalism. I would 
like to examine it through several aspects ... ecology, direct democracy, feminism ... 
---- Libertarian Alternative reproduces the posts of the blog 
Kurdistan-Autogestion-Revolution where, after Arthur Aberlin, engaged in the YPG, now 
expresses Damien Keller, engaged him in the International Battalion of Liberation (IFB). 
---- Over the weeks, he will testify to life in the IFB, the debates that are going on and 
the evolution of the revolutionary process in the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria. 
---- Canton of Cizîrê, February 15, 2018 ---- The battle of Afrîn continues, but what is 
obvious is that Erdogan and his Islamist henchmen of the Free Syrian Army are trampling. 
In three weeks of attack, they have almost failed to penetrate the township, and the 
Syrian Democratic Forces have inflicted significant losses, by shooting down helicopters 
and tanks. If it continues like this, it will start to look like Afghanistan for the USSR, 
or Vietnam for the United States.

But at what price ? Many comrades are paying for this in their lives, not to mention 
civilian casualties and material destruction in the towns and villages of Afrin Township.

"Long live the internationalism of the workers. Long live proletarian internationalism 
"(Kurmanji, then Turkish).
Inset: martyrs of the International Liberation Battalion.
As I am forced to stay in the back ( see my previous post ), I will not be content to 
comment on the battle of Afrîn. I would like to start publishing some notes on the 
revolutionary process here in Rojava and in the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.

The "  democratic confederalism  " claimed by the PYD and its sister organizations in the 
different regions of Kurdistan is an overcoming of Marxism-Leninism, which integrates 
different aspects: ecology, direct democracy, feminism ...

I would like to examine them one by one, and to express to you personal critical 
observations, or resulting from my discussions with different revolutionary, Kurdish or not.

Ecology. This is probably the least currently working axis in the civil society of Rojava 
- and of course this is due to the current crisis - when the needs are enormous.

First of all, it must be borne in mind that the Hafez al-Assad regime carried out a 
massive deforestation of Rojava in order to make it the breadbasket of Syria. This has 
resulted in the destruction of the entire ecosystem of the region. It would take a 
large-scale and proactive policy to replant whole forests. This is obviously not the case, 
when the Rojava is in a very precarious economic situation - the public garbage collection 
service is not even provided everywhere, for example.

A slogan to keep the streets clean: "A culture of cleanliness, a democratic nation."
In a street of Tell Tamer (Girê Xurma).
It should be added that the years of war have led to the dissemination of ammunition and 
cartridges whose chemical components pollute the soil for decades, as can be seen in 
France where the ecosystem of some departments still bears the stigma of First World War.

Lastly, the energy question is decisive. On the one hand, the ease of access to oil does 
not encourage the population to do without this resource, despite the shortages following 
the ban on refineries, which are far too polluting. On the other hand, the blockade 
imposed by Turkey and its ally, Kurdistan of Iraq, prevents the importation of materials 
such as solar panels or cleaner refining systems.

Finally, the principles of anticapitalist ecology, based on the local and autonomous 
production of energy rather than on industrial centralization, are unfortunately not 
sufficiently worked in our own political organizations, and too little shared internationally.

To be continued.

Damien Keller

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Un-communiste-libertaire-dans-l-IFB-05-l-ecologie-dans-le-confederalisme

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Message: 2





Previous ---- Teaching, research and some admin staff in the old ‘pre-1992' universities 
are poised to take a lengthy 14 days of strike action over 4 weeks in February and March, 
and an extended period of ‘action short of a strike' up to June 2018, against proposed 
drastic changes to the University Superannuation Scheme (USS). ---- The proposals would 
see workers' retirement income thrown to the wolves with an estimated loss of £10,000 a 
year of pension on average. Similar to that seen elsewhere in the public sector, pensions 
have been eroded in higher and further education for some years. Education workers have 
already seen their pension scheme change from ‘final salary' to ‘career average' in 2011 
which was supposed to ensure long-term stability in the face of a projected deficit. 
However there remained some security in the knowledge of a predictable ‘defined benefit' 
(known payout) at retirement whereas the proposed alternative of ‘defined contribution' 
would essentially make each worker an investor in their own future, subject to the usual 
stocks and shares uncertainty.

The USS is peculiar in that it isn't underwritten by the government and also has its dozen 
board members made up of individuals from the University of Colleges Union (UCU), bosses 
represented through Universities UK and various ‘independents'. The UCU members, in a 
minority on the board, had fought the previous changes to the scheme but were threatened 
with court action for stalling and the change to career average were eventually passed, 
which has given confidence to employers to push for the new investment model. At the same 
time, the UCU has highlighted the huge increase in surplus by employer institutions which 
is being used for expansion (competing with other universities), while staff costs have 
been kept down by various measures including performance schemes and below inflation pay 
deals. The union is calling on employers to put more into the pensions scheme as well as 
government support.

It is all the more galling that one of the current USS board members is the same 
vice-chancellor (V-C) of Bath University, Glynis Breakwell, who resigned after criticism 
of her excessive £468,000 annual pay. It has since emerged that 95% of V-Cs sit on (or are 
entitled to attend) remuneration committees which set their pay and perks such as company 
cars and union research previously showed the average pay for V-Cs had risen hugely to 
£278,000 in 2015-16.

The industrial action is being supported by the National Union of Students (NUS) who see 
that students are being disadvantaged both by high student fees and the prospect of 
unhappy lecturers. The NUS has instructed members to complain to V-Cs and attend demos and 
not to attend lectures on strike days if other staff are working and to join picket lines. 
The NUS and UCU signed a joint statement challenging the marketisation of education, 
casualisation which is rife in higher education, and the bloating of V-C pay. Students are 
also asking for money back from the university for the lost teaching time. The other two 
main unions at universities Unison and UNITE have also stated their support. Staff moving 
roles within institution would find themselves worse off in the proposed USS scheme. 
Equally this would apply to workers moving from a post-92 institution into an older 
university.

Of course the private sector has also been criticised for excessive pay (some with 
multi-million pound salaries) and pensions scandals have seen pensions of workers all but 
disappear such as with Next and most recently Carillion, where bosses were likewise 
receiving vast salaries and protected benefits even in the face of a company's collapse. 
It's clear that the scourges of inequality and insecurity will not disappear without a 
major restructuring of society but any intensification of industrial action and acts of 
solidarity such as we are seeing in the universities is to be encouraged and supported by 
revolutionaries.

More information: https://www.ucu.org.uk/strikeforuss

The strike is due to begin on 22nd February for 2 days, then 3 days at the start of the 
following week, then 4 days in week & after that all week: 
https://www.ucu.org.uk/uss-action-faqs

This article was originally from the website of the Anarchist Federation - 
http://afed.org.uk/university-pensions-industrial-action-to-begin-on-22nd-february-2018/

https://surreyandhampshireanarchistfederation.wordpress.com/2018/02/19/university-pensions-industrial-action-to-begin-on-22nd-february-2018/

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Message: 3





"We are currently fundraising to pay the lawyers working on several cases related to the 
police raids and arrests of anarchists and antifascists in St. Petersburg and Penza, 
Russia. ---- As of now, two people in St. Petersburg and five in Penza are under arrest, 
while many others have been connected to their cases as witnesses. The raids and 
repressions are likely to continue. ---- The arrestees are charged with part 2 of article 
205.4 of the Russian Criminal Code, participation in a Terrorist Organisation, and the 
entire process has been started at the request of the court in Penza. ---- On January 
23rd, on his way to Pulkovo Airport, Victor Filinkov was detained by the Federal Security 
Service (FSB). In order to force a testimony out of him he was beaten, and tortured with 
electric shocks in the woods. Signs of torture have been confirmed by the Filinkov's 
lawyer and members of the Public Monitoring Commission (ONK) who have visited him in the 
pre-trial detention center. Filinkov is currently in pre-trial detention/remand for the 
next two months.
On January 25th the FSB raided Igor Shishkin's apartment. After the raid neither his 
lawyer, nor members of Public Monitoring Commission were able to find Igor for more than a 
day. On January 27th Igor was brought to a session in court with clear signs of beating. 
He is currently in pre-trial detention/remand for the next two months. Journalists were 
not allowed to attend the hearing and furthermore two of them were arrested.
Several witnesses were also tortured: Ilya Kapustin was beaten up and tortured with 
electric shocks while police demanded he give testimony that some of his acquantances are 
up to "something dangerous." Medical services later recorded numerous traces of stun gun 
usage.
In Penza, arrests began in October 2017. Local FSB officers have arrested six people, five 
of whom are currently in pre-trial detention. All of those arrested were brutally 
tortured. The events in Penza are described in detail in this article.
Legal help is needed for prisoners and witnesses, as their numbers are constantly 
increasing. It is early to speak about an exact amount of money, but it will cost at least 
200 thousand rubles (around 3000 Euros/3500 USD) to pay for lawyers' fees in the next months.

Anarchist Black Cross St.Petersburg

https://londonacg.blogspot.co.il/2018/02/solidarity-with-russian-anarchists.html

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Message: 4





A campaign for better pay and working conditions by Polish postal workers supported by the 
ZSP-IWA union is facing increasing repression. Following nation-wide protests, the 
government-owned postal office have sought to silence protesting workers and fired several 
of the organisers. In addition, they have brought a series of bogus criminal cases against 
members of our sister union, the ZSP-IWA, who have supported the self-organised campaign 
of postal workers. SolFed-IWA is in solidarity with postal workers in Poland. Stop state 
repression of workers now! An injury to one is an injury to all! ---- For almost two 
years, postal workers around Poland have been protesting for better working conditions. 
The anarcho-syndiclaist union ZSP has been active in attempts to coordinate national 
networks, actions and to unionize workers, together with hundreds of other workers spread 
around the country. All of the workers shared two things in common: they are fed up with 
the very poor working conditions and were not satisfied with the role of the 
representative unions which signed very agreements on their behalf with the employer.

The working conditions at the post office are awful, especially for mail carriers. Wages 
hover just slightly above minimum wage, meaning the basic  take-home pay is a around 350 
euros (~£310). Many mail carriers who have worked 15, 20 or even 30 years earn basically 
the same. What's worse is that the conditions are hard and most are overworked. With wages 
at supermarkets now being even 1000 zloties (£210) higher, it is very hard to find new 
people to work there. It is probably for this reason that the government has decided to 
use prison labor to make up for the shortage.

Major actions of the ZSP have included exposing the problems in the Post Office and 
providing a forum for thousands of workers to network, making contacts all over the 
country and organizing national meetings, promoting alternative unionism and organizing 
and taking part in organizing national protests, together with thousands of workers.

This work was immediately attacked by representatives both of Solidarnosc (the main union 
recognised by the Post Office) and by the management of the Post Office, which is a 
state-owned enterprise. Solidarnosc at the Post Office carried out a vile disinformation 
campaign, which sought to present the ZSP as if it was a Soviet paramilitary organization 
- such a grotesque misrepresentation that it would have been hilarious if it weren't such 
a part of the current far-right political hysteria.

When workers began to organize and call for protests on a national level, demanding a 
significant pay rise and better working conditions, the management of the Post Office, 
together with their union servants, started a campaign of harrassment and threats against 
the workers. Throughout Poland, workers were visited, told that the protests were illegal, 
threatened with disciplinary action, etc.

Finally, after last years' large national protests, Klaudiusz and Rafal were fired and now 
Zbyszek. He had been active after the protests in trying to organize workers.

Besides this retaliation against the postal workers, there have also been various attempts 
to bring criminal cases against another member of ZSP from Warsaw, Jakub. The Post Office 
tried (unsuccessfully) to have him prosecuted under the amazing charge of "organizing a 
bloody revolution". Although this was so stupid it was ludicrous, it is actually a very 
serious charge, completely out of line with the real crime - helping to coordinate the 
national workers protest. Unfortunately the Post Office, backed by the State, is trying to 
prosecute on lesser criminal charges, which are also complete nonsense.

Although the ZSP has born the brunt of the repression, it is important to recognize that 
in fact, this is a campaign of state repression against all workers.

SolFed-IWA demands that the Polish state stop repression of workers now! In solidarity 
with postal workers in Poland, we are calling for the following protests:

London: Monday 26 February, 12:30, Polish Embassy, 47 Portland Place, W1B 1JH (click for 
Facebook event )
Edinburgh: Tuesday 27 February 12 noon, Consulate General of Poland, 2 Kinnear Rd, EH3 5PE
Manchester: Friday 2nd March at 2 pm Polish Consulate, Manchester One, 51 Portland St, M1 3LD
An injury to one is an injury to all!

http://www.solfed.org.uk/international/stop-state-repression-of-postal-workers-in-poland

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Message: 5





Teaching, research and some admin staff in the old ‘pre-1992' universities are poised to 
take a lengthy 14 days of strike action over 4 weeks in February and March, and an 
extended period of ‘action short of a strike' up to June 2018, against proposed drastic 
changes to the University Superannuation Scheme (USS). ---- The proposals would see 
workers' retirement income thrown to the wolves with an estimated loss of £10,000 a year 
of pension on average. Similar to that seen elsewhere in the public sector, pensions have 
been eroded in higher and further education for some years. Education workers have already 
seen their pension scheme change from ‘final salary' to ‘career average' in 2011 which was 
supposed to ensure long-term stability in the face of a projected deficit. However there 
remained some security in the knowledge of a predictable ‘defined benefit' (known payout) 
at retirement whereas the proposed alternative of ‘defined contribution' would essentially 
make each worker an investor in their own future, subject to the usual stocks and shares 
uncertainty.

The USS is peculiar in that it isn't underwritten by the government and also has its dozen 
board members made up of individuals from the University of Colleges Union (UCU), bosses 
represented through Universities UK and various ‘independents'. The UCU members, in a 
minority on the board, had fought the previous changes to the scheme but were threatened 
with court action for stalling and the change to career average were eventually passed, 
which has given confidence to employers to push for the new investment model. At the same 
time, the UCU has highlighted the huge increase in surplus by employer institutions which 
is being used for expansion (competing with other universities), while staff costs have 
been kept down by various measures including performance schemes and below inflation pay 
deals. The union is calling on employers to put more into the pensions scheme as well as 
government support.

It is all the more galling that one of the current USS board members is the same 
vice-chancellor (V-C) of Bath University, Glynis Breakwell, who resigned after criticism 
of her excessive £468,000 annual pay. It has since emerged that 95% of V-Cs sit on (or are 
entitled to attend) remuneration committees which set their pay and perks such as company 
cars and union research previously showed the average pay for V-Cs had risen hugely to 
£278,000 in 2015-16.

The industrial action is being supported by the National Union of Students (NUS) who see 
that students are being disadvantaged both by high student fees and the prospect of 
unhappy lecturers. The NUS has instructed members to complain to V-Cs and attend demos and 
not to attend lectures on strike days if other staff are working and to join picket lines. 
The NUS and UCU signed a joint statement challenging the marketisation of education, 
casualisation which is rife in higher education, and the bloating of V-C pay. Students are 
also asking for money back from the university for the lost teaching time. The other two 
main unions at universities Unison and UNITE have also stated their support. Staff moving 
roles within institution would find themselves worse off in the proposed USS scheme. 
Equally this would apply to workers moving from a post-92 institution into an older 
university.

Of course the private sector has also been criticised for excessive pay (some with 
multi-million pound salaries) and pensions scandals have seen pensions of workers all but 
disappear such as with Next and most recently Carillion, where bosses were likewise 
receiving vast salaries and protected benefits even in the face of a company's collapse. 
It's clear that the scourges of inequality and insecurity will not disappear without a 
major restructuring of society but any intensification of industrial action and acts of 
solidarity such as we are seeing in the universities is to be encouraged and supported by 
revolutionaries.

More information: https://www.ucu.org.uk/strikeforuss

The strike is due to begin on 22nd February for 2 days, then 3 days at the start of the 
following week, then 4 days in week & after that all week: 
https://www.ucu.org.uk/uss-action-faqs

http://afed.org.uk/university-pensions-industrial-action-to-begin-on-22nd-february-2018/

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