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» Anarchic update news all over the world - Part One - 7.02.2018
Anarchic update news all over the world - Part One - 7.02.2018
Today's Topics:
1. awsm.nz: Anarchists You Should Know #5 Jack White
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. Greece, CULTURE IN INTERNATIONAL - ANTI-FOUNDATION
CONCENTRATION AT 4/2 IN ATHENS By APO (gr)
[machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Britain, solfed: Strikers from three disputes unite for a
demo and rally in Manchester (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. France, Alternative Libertaire AL - In colleges and high
schools amplify the mobilization! (fr, it, pt) [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. 6, 000 Uber Drivers Have Joined Anarchist Union in Indonesia
By Black Rose Anarchist Federation (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Calling a Week of Solidarity Action to the Mapuys Indians,
against the repressive attacks of the Argentine state By APO (gr)
[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. US, black rose fed: INDONESIAN UBER DRIVERS FIGHT BACK WITH
ANARCHO-SYNDICALISM (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Captain Jack White is known as the man who drilled the Irish Citizen Army during the 1913
lock-out. His later anarchism has been hidden from history by the writers of history
books. ---- White belonged to the Anglo-Irish landowning class. James Robert - always
known as Jack, was born in Co Antrim, at Whitehall, Broughshane, just outside Ballymena.
As a young man he followed his father into the British army, where he saw action against
the Boers in South Africa. ---- It is said that at the battle of Doorknop he was one of
the first to go over the top. Looking back he saw one 17 year old youth shivering with
fright in the trench. An officer cried "shoot him". White is said to have covered the
officer with his pistol and replied "Do so and I'll shoot you". Not exactly the attitude
wanted among the officer classes of the army!
Soon after this he dropped out of the army. Arriving back in Ireland he found Sir Edward
Carson's bigoted crusade against Home Rule was in full swing. This was the time when the
original Ulster Volunteer Force was created to threaten war against the British government
if Ireland was granted any measure of self-rule.
Jack organised one of the first Protestant meetings, in Ballymoney, to rally Protestant
opinion against the Unionist Party and against what he described as its "bigotry and
stagnation", that associated Northern Protestants with conservatism. Another speaker at
that meeting, and coming from the same sort of social background, was Sir Roger Casement.
As a result of the Ballymoney meeting Jack was invited to Dublin. Here he met James
Connolly and was converted to socialism. Very impressed by the great struggle to win union
recognition and resist the attacks of William Martin Murphy and his confederates, he
offered his services to the ITGWU at Liberty Hall. He spoke on union platforms with such
famous names as Francis Sheehy Skeffington, Big Bill Haywood of the Industrial Workers of
the World, and James Connolly.
He put forward the idea of a workers militia to protect picket lines from assaults by both
scabs and the blackguards of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. This proposal to create a
Citizen Army, drilled by him, was enthusiastically accepted. Its very appearance, as White
recollected, "put manners on the police".
He later put his services at the disposal of the Volunteers, believing that a stand had to
be taken against British rule by a large body of armed people. He went to Derry where
there was a brigade of Volunteers who were largely ex-British Army like himself. But he
was shaken by the sectarian attitudes he found. When he tried to reason with them and make
the case for workers' unity they dismissed his case as merely sticking up for his own,
i.e. Protestants.
When Connolly was sentenced to death after the 1916 rising White rushed to South Wales and
tried to bring the miners out on strike to save his life. For his attempts he was given
three months imprisonment.
He came home to find himself in a political wilderness. The unionists regarded him as a
Shinner. The nationalists regarded him as an Orangeman! He moved towards the newly founded
Communist Party which, with the first reports from Russia, seemed offer hope to humanity.
But he had his doubts about them and never joined. Indeed for a time in London he worked
with Sylvia Pankhurst's anti-parliamentary communist group, the Workers Socialist Federation.
In 1934 a special convention was held in Athlone which was attended by 200 former IRA
volunteers together with a number of prominent socialists, Communists and trade unionists.
It resolved that a Republican Congress be formed. This was a movement, based on workers
and small farmers, that was well to the left of the IRA. White joined immediately and
organised a Dublin branch composed solely of ex-British servicemen. One notable result of
this was a contingent of British ex-servicemen marching behind the Congress banner through
cheering crowds of Dubliners on a demonstration against war and poverty.
The Congress is best known for bringing 200 Belfast Protestant workers to the republican
Wolfe Tone Commemoration that year and for the scandalous attack on them by Sean McBride's
IRA men who were determined that no ‘red' banners would be seen at their Catholic day out
in Bodenstown.
One of the men carrying the second banner - on which was embroidered James Connolly Club,
Belfast - The United Irishmen of 1934 - was John Straney, a milk roundsman from loyalist
Ballymacarret who was later killed while fighting Franco's army at the Battle of the Ebro
in 1939.
Congress later split between those who stood for class independence, those who fought only
for the Workers Republic, and those - led by the Communists - who firstly wanted an
alliance with Fianna Fail to reunite the country. After the bulk of the first group walked
out (many of them demoralised and ending up in the Labour Party) White remained in the
depleted organisation. But their reduced size did not reduce the hatred the rich had for
them. In April 1936 the Congress contingent taking part in the annual Easter Commemoration
was subjected to attack by blueshirt gangs all along the route.
The main target of the mob was White. Patrick Byrne, the joint secretary with Frank Ryan
of the Congress, describes him as a "tall, well built man with a clipped army moustache"
who "used his blackthorn stick to advantage in close encounters with his attackers".
Inside the cemetery he was badly injured by a blow of an iron cross ripped from a grave.
Byrne and a young poet, Tom O'Brien, who also fought in Spain managed to get White away.
The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War saw General O'Duffy's blueshirts sending a
contingent to help Franco. The Communist Party and leading republicans organised the
Connolly Column to fight the Spanish fascists. Incidentaly the Irish International Brigade
was yet one more example of how Catholics and Protestants fought together in a common
class cause. White was thrilled with the collectivisation in Spain, and also with the
volunteer militias. He learned with amazement that this was the work of the anarchists.
In addition to his work with the Connolly Column at the front, he trained militia members
in the use of firearms. He also trained women in the villages on the way to Saragossa in
the use of pistol for defence. What he could not stomach was that the Irish, like all the
International Brigadeers, were being increasingly manipulated by the Communist Party. He
had never accepted the CP, he had just not seen an alternative. Now he saw that
alternative and it was anarchism.
There was a clash between White and Frank Ryan, who accused White of being a ‘Trotskyite'
and a traitor. White relinquished his International Brigade command and offered his
services to the anarchist CNT union. White was asked to work, with the legendary Emma
Goldman, for the CNT in London. In the course of a few months in Spain he had become a
convinced anarchist.
It was at this time that he wrote the pamphlet ‘The Meaning of Anarchism'. He joined the
group producing Freedom (the anarchist paper - still published in London - whose founders
included Peter Kropotkin), and was one of the organisers of the regular meetings at the
National Trade Union Club against Italian fascism and in support of the Spanish anarchists.
At this time White worked with a Liverpool-Irish anarchist, Matt Kavanagh, on a survey of
Irish labour history in relation to anarchism. In 1940 White died. His body was hardly
cold when the family, ashamed of Jack's revolutionary politics, destroyed all his papers,
including a study of the Cork Harbour ‘soviet' of 1921.
His importance lies not in what he wrote, for all that survives is one short pamphlet, nor
in any particular position he took. His importance lies in the link he provides between
Irish working class history of the past and our anarchist vision today. All through his
life he tried to organise ordinary people to defend their own interests and to realise the
power they had if only they would use it. That is the job we have to continue and complete.
Alan MacSimóin
http://struggle.ws/ws/ws50_jack.html
.awsm.nz/2018/02/01/anarchists-you-should-know-5-jack-white/
------------------------------
Message: 2
TO REMOVE A DEMAND IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STATE INTEGRATION AND TO THE COMPETITIVE
CONFORMITY ---- On Sunday, 4 February, a concentration in Syntagma Square is being
organized in Athens by forces that attempt to socialize the nationalist political agenda
of the state on the basis of the "Macedonian", following a similar concentration in
Thessaloniki. Forces including the clubs, party mechanisms of New Democracy and the
co-rulers with SYRIZA, ANEL, ecclesiastical organizations, until the Nazi organization of
the Golden Dawn and slaughter fascist striking groups in their ranks, in a move that
objectively acts as a diffusion belt intolerance and as a pole of gathering and mobilizing
reactive reflexes. ---- The aggravated transnational antagonisms and Nato designs are
nothing more than war conflicts and extreme conditions of impoverishment for the peoples
of the region. Meanwhile, there are gatherings that "prepare" and illustrate the bleak
outlook of warring societies where the floods should be ideologically identical to state
war machines. Against state mythologies and nationalist narrations aimed at separating the
class and social oppressed of this world, we oppose the common struggle against war, their
misery and exploitation by the dominant local and supranational elites.
As Anarchist Political Organization we call for a cluster of social-class anti-fascist
forces to put barriers to the pursuit of modern totalitarianism. Anti-fascist vigilance
and defense of combat venues, which are targeted by state forces and sub-state gangs. In
an internationalist-anti-fascist concentration to bring the anarchist project into the
central political field, the solidarity of the peoples against their common oppressors. To
express our anger over the streets against the arsonist attack by fascists who accompanied
MAT squads, the occupation of Libertatia, the attack on the ESC school and the
anti-fascist concentration and resolve against the state repression that hit the massive
anti-fascist demonstration of solidarity in Libertatia Monday.
SOLIDARITY IS THE LAW OF THE LAW
THE LIBERTATIA BECOMING WE ARE ALL OURS
TO REMEMBER THE ROADS AND THE STRUCTURES OF THE RACE AGAINST THE FASHION BACKGROUND FEATURES
REAR FASHION-FRONT FOOTBALL
Anarchist Political Organization-Federation of Collectivities
http://apo.squathost.com
------------------------------
Message: 3
Friday the 26th January saw strikers from three disputes in Manchester stage a joint demo
and rally. Hundreds of supporters joined the demonstration and attended the rally where
strikers from Mears, First Buses and Fujitsu gave an update on their long running
disputes. ---- Mears Dispute ---- The Mears dispute involves 180 building workers employed
by Mears to undertake housing maintenance work on 12,000 properties in Manchester. The
contract was tendered by Manchester council. The workers took 40 days of strike action
last year over pay differentials of up to £3,500 and attacks on their terms and
conditions. A further ballot saw an increased majority vote for further 49 days of action,
due to end on February 8th. ---- The Speaker from the Mears dispute made it clear that the
strike was not just about pay but the detrimental treatment of workers during the dispute,
attacks on workers' holiday entitlement, allocation of work to sub-contractors, treatment
of apprentices and trainees, and proposed unilateral changes to working hours and
conditions for some of the affected workers.
He was scathing about Manchester City council- all of Manchester's 95 counsellors , belong
to Labour, the city is virtually a one party state - outlining a series of broken promises
by council leaders and the fact that not one Labour councillor had attended picket lines
or offered any kind of support. A further speaker highlighted the fact that the head of
Mears, before he recently resigned, was being paid £190,000 p.a. and had awarded himself
more in pay rises over the last 5 years than the whole of the 180 workforce put together!
Send messages of support to colinpitt65@hotmail.co.uk and messages of protest to
david.mears@mearsgroup.co.uk
Fujitsu Dispute
The dispute is over compulsory redundancies, victimisation of reps and breaches of
redundancy agreements. IT workers at Fujitsu in Manchester have already taken 29 days of
action in this long running campaign and plan further strikes on Tuesday 30 January and
Thursday 8 February - Wednesday 14 February. Union members are also taking part in action
short of a strike and are working to rule.
The Speakers from Fujitsu outlined the bullying and intimidation tactics used by
management against IT workers employed in Manchester. They explained that one worker was
dismissed after submitting a grievance about sexual harassment, she was dismissed without
her grievance even being heard. Lynn Hodge, a union rep, was stopped from doing most of
her job in May 2016 and her colleagues were instructed by management not to work with her.
She was recently moved to another department where she now faces the threat of being made
redundant. Another union rep, Dennis Morris, was selected for redundancy on the basis of
scoring that mainly focused on his reps role and his disability rather than his skills and
knowledge. Ian Allison, a union rep with over 30 years service, was dismissed on January
12th while on compassionate leave attending a family funeral, without even being allowed
to work is months notice.
It was also explained that there was strong evidence to show that people were being
selected for redundancy on racial grounds or the fact that they were disabled. Out of the
six people currently fighting redundancy the majority were from an ethnic minority and a
majority were disabled. This despite the fact that only a small minority of the overall
workforce were from an ethnic background or disabled. Further Fujitsu had agreed to
release the findings of a study into how many people they had made redundant were disabled
or from an ethnic background only to renege on the agreement just prior to the resulting
being published. The speakers also stressed that just like Carillion, Fujitsu is another
example of a company receiving millions of pounds of public money, while being allowed to
discriminate against and mistreat workers.
For ways to support the Fujitsu strikers, including signing an online petition go to
https://ouruniontest.wordpress.com/fujitsu-national-dispute
First Bus Manchester Dispute
First bus drivers at the Rusholme Depot in Manchester are involved in ongoing dispute over
pay. Drivers at First Manchester Rusholme depot are being paid up to £5000 a year less
than colleagues working at the First's Queen's Road Depo based just five miles away. The
drivers at the Rusholme depo originally worked for Finglands Buses who were taken over by
First Manchester in 2013. At the time of the takeover the Finglands drivers were promised
parity but after repeated promises by First to harmonize pay, drivers at Rusholme still
find themselves being paid 23% less than the all the drivers in the company.
The speaker from the First Bus dispute informed the rally that the the dispute was now
into the 17th week of strikes, and that the strike had now escalated to Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays on alternate weeks. He pointed out that the reason given by First
Buses as to why they were discriminating against one group of drivers by paying them
less than drivers doing exactly the same job was on the grounds of cost. Yet First Buses
are part of the First Group the biggest transport company in the world making massive
publicly subsidised profits each year. He also explained that First Group had a history of
anti-trade union activity in the USA. The speaker finished by urging people to boycott
First Buses on strike days.
For ways to support the First Manchester strikers search for Solidarity with Rusholme on
http://www.solfed.org.uk/manchester/strikers-from-three-disputes-unite-for-a-demo-and-rally-in-manchester
------------------------------
Message: 4
Thursday 1 st February was held the first real day of action against the selection and
university reform. ---- It gathered 20 000 demonstrators in the hexagon with
demonstrations of several hundreds of students, lycénne-es, staff and teachers in Rennes,
Toulouse, Nantes, Lille or Clermont-Ferrand, Grenoble or Caen ... In Paris 10,000 people
demonstrated. High schools have disengaged, facs were blocked for example in Rennes 2 or
Toulouse 2 (where a GA has gathered more than 1000 students and staff-them (!) Also fight
for a few months against the merger of their university ). If this is not a tidal wave,
early embryos of mobilization have clearly emerged with encouraging and constructive
general assemblies in many facets. We must continue to inform and mobilize around us
against the selection, the end of the compensation in license, the reform of the
baccalaureate. These reforms aim to make the factions more and more elitist and unequal.
We need a massive movement of students, high school students, teachers and staff. A
movement controlled by the base, self-organized. Only in this way will we be able to
inflict a real setback on the government, which continues to carry out these attacks
relentlessly.
Libertarian alternative, calls in this direction to join the demonstrations and the strike
of Tuesday, February 6 and will put all his forces in the construction of a movement of
scale !
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Dans-les-facs-et-les-lycees-amplifions-la-mobilisation
------------------------------
Message: 5
As the "uberization" of the US economy continues, along with it is an ever precarious
workforce struggling to make ends meet in the dog-eat-dog world of the so-called "sharing
economy." This trend is the same around the world, with Uber claiming to have more thantwo
million drivers in over 80 counties across the globe now. ---- In Indonesia these
conditions are little different. But radical unionists are hoping to change this and are
organizing to take back their dignity, better pay and conditions and for great control
over their work and lives. Kommunitas Uber Mainstream, abbreviated KUMAN which means
‘bacteria,'was formed by three Uber motorcycle drivers in the Spring of 2017. They have
since crafted a list of 14 demands, led four one-day strikes and have grown to a
membership of 6,000 drivers. All but two are male in the male dominated field of drivers.
KUMAN is structured horizontally with regional sections meeting regularly in parks or
other available spaces to discuss strategy and in turn chose delegates to larger general
meetings. The union has no dues and supports itself largely by sale of stickers and
t-shirts. Drivers can become members by proving they are an active driver and answering
three basic questions: 1. What's your perspective on this group?, 2. Are you a freedom
fighter or a loser? and 3. What do you know about what working with Uber is like?
View image on TwitterView image on Twitter
Jakarta Syndicalist
@JktPpas
Sedang berlangsung, diskusi publik "Gerakan Pekerja dan Sindikalisme Kini" bersama PPAS
dan ASF-Melbourne. Bagi kawan-kawan yg berada di sekitar Surabaya, mari merapat!
2:40 PM - Jan 13, 2018
3 3 Replies 10 10 Retweets 14 14 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy
KUMAN works together with Persaudaraan Pekerja Anarko-Sindikalis (PPAS), the two-year old
anarcho-syndicalist initiative in Indonesia and an affiliate of the International Workers
Association (IWA). The majority of the union has decided to adopt the ideas and strategies
of anarcho-syndicalism for their struggle, although other political tendencies exist
within the union.
KUMAN is continuing to escalate the fight for justice at Uber, with more strikes and
actions planned. We hope that this interview will help inspire solidarity with their
cause, so that workers around the world will answer KUMAN's next call for action and join
in putting pressure on Uber. We particularly hope that other rideshare and sharing economy
workers will learn from the experiences we share here and connect with KUMAN drivers to
build international networks of struggle and organization.
------------------------------
Message: 6
Argentinian Liberation Federation (FLA-IFA) appeals to protests against the Argentine
government and the multinational Benetton clothing company during the week of 29 January
to 4 February 2018. ---- Following is the text issued by the International Anarchist
Federations ( IFA-IAF), of which the Anarchist Political Organization - Federation of
Collectives is a member. ---------- PRICE TO THE ANARCHICAL GAMBLER SANTIAGO MALDONADO
DRAWN AND BORN BY THE ARGENTINE STATE ---- The multinational company Benetton , which,
through its advertisements, attempts to present a supposedly anti-racist profile, actually
buys large land in Argentina, most of which belong to the indigenous Mapuche , a land that
has been beaten by the Argentine state-and Chile - by indigenous peoples. Mapuche
contestants and those who also stand solidarity in their struggle are targeted by the
Argentine state as "terrorists" - within the repressive " RAM plan"Prepared by the
national security ministry - for their social isolation and suppression of their
resistances. Last August, Argentine police kidnapped and murdered the anarchist
SantiagoMaldonado , and in November he murdered companion Rafael Nahuel .
On August 1, in Chubut province, Argentine Patagonia, a Mapuche tribe together with
solidarity ruled out a street in the area where Benetton's headquarters are located,
protesting for the landing of their land by the company. Gendarmerie forces attacked by
shooting and chasing those who tried to defend themselves as they could. During the
repressive operation - according to many eye-catchers - the anarchist Santiago Maldonado
was arrested by the gendarmerie, who was forced into a white van by force and actually
abducted him since Santiago did not communicate with anyone again . His corpse was found -
two and a half months later - on October 18th in a river of Patagonia, in a barbarous
reminder of the 30th.
During the kidnapping of his partner, a major mobilization has been developed to return
Santiago with gatherings, demonstrations and conflicts in many Argentine cities. While the
state, the cops and the media were involved in a pardon of the indignation of indigenous
struggling indigenous communities and anarchist fighters, they were denied any
responsibility for abducting their partner by focusing their propaganda on conspiracy
theories about extinction or the threat they pose for the state as "internal enemy" those
who stand against the plans of the bosses and especially the anarchists.
The natives of the Mapuche tribe - in Chile and Argentina - struggle to defend their
communities, their culture and their land from the looting and destruction brought about
by their exploitation by large multinational companies to which they are granted by the
state, which has taken it from indigenous peoples with a series of wars and genocides from
the time of the "conquest" of the American continent. In their struggle, they have often
faced persecution, imprisonment and the violence of repressive mechanisms, as well as the
gangs of partisans operating on behalf of the bosses on both sides of the Andes. In
Chubut, much of Mapuche claims the land owned by the Benetton Group,
Santiago was murdered because, as an anarchist, he chose to stand and fight with
indigenous peoples, chose to stand by the oppressed and the exploited, and against the
torturers and murderers of the suppression powers, the anti-social and anti-social plans
of the state and economic elites.
Rafael Nahuel, a young companion from the Mapuche region, was a member of the Al Margen
college and had taken part in many actions to defend the native Mapuche and their land. On
25 November 2017, on the day of Santiago's funeral, the Argentine police conducted a
business in a Mapuche area for the violent removal of indigenous peoples from their land.
The cops attacked the people with both plastic bullets and real fire resulting in the
murder of companion Rafael.
Comrades Santiago Maldonado and Rafael Nahuel will be present in races that break out in
every corner of the earth like all the fighters who gave their lives for a free and fair
world without inequalities, without exploitation and oppression ...
Internationalist Solidarity
- our comrades in Argentina who accept the repression of the Argentine state and resist
- the Indians Mapce and all the indigenous peoples who defend their land against its use
by Benetton's modern conquistadors.
An International Federation of Anarchist Federations (IFA-IAF)
Anarchist Political Organization - Federation of Collectivities
------------------------------
Message: 7
A delegation of striking Jakarta Uber drivers receives report back on a meeting with
management in August 2017. ---- As the "uberization" of the US economy continues, along
with it is an ever precarious workforce struggling to make ends meet in the dog-eat-dog
world of the so-called "sharing economy." This trend is the same around the world, with
Uber claiming to have more than two million drivers in over 80 counties across the globe
now. ---- In Indonesia these conditions are little different. But radical unionists are
hoping to change this and are organizing to take back their dignity, better pay and
conditions and for great control over their work and lives. Kommunitas Uber Mainstream,
abbreviated KUMAN which means ‘bacteria,'was formed by three Uber motorcycle drivers in
the Spring of 2017. They have since crafted a list of 14 demands, led four one-day strikes
and have grown to a membership of 6,000 drivers. All but two are male in the male
dominated field of drivers. KUMAN is structured horizontally with regional sections
meeting regularly in parks or other available spaces to discuss strategy and in turn chose
delegates to larger general meetings. The union has no dues and supports itself largely by
sale of stickers and t-shirts. Drivers can become members by proving they are an active
driver and answering three basic questions: 1. What's your perspective on this group?, 2.
Are you a freedom fighter or a loser? and 3. What do you know about what working with Uber
is like? KUMAN works together with Persaudaraan Pekerja Anarko-Sindikalis (PPAS), the
two-year old anarcho-syndicalist initiative in Indonesia and an affiliate of the
International Workers Association (IWA). The majority of the union has decided to adopt
the ideas and strategies of anarcho-syndicalism for their struggle, although other
political tendencies exist within the union.
KUMAN is continuing to escalate the fight for justice at Uber, with more strikes and
actions planned. We hope that this interview will help inspire solidarity with their
cause, so that workers around the world will answer KUMAN's next call for action and join
in putting pressure on Uber. We particularly hope that other rideshare and sharing economy
workers will learn from the experiences we share here and connect with KUMAN drivers to
build international networks of struggle and organization.
We were excited to be able to talk with Enrique, an Uber driver from Jakarta, Indonesia
who was one of the initial three founders of KUMAN. We were also joined by Ricardo,
originally from Surabaya, Indonesia but now living in Melbourne, Australia. He works in
retail grocery and is active with the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation - IWA. The interview
was conducted by Jesus, a Los Angeles based healthcare worker with Black Rose/Rosa Negra.
The three sat down together in a cramped Hong Kong hostel room to talk about the situation
of Uber drivers in Indonesia now and how anarchist ideas are being applied to build
workers power among drivers in Indonesia.
Please note that for purposes of translation, clarity, and length this interview has been
heavy edited.
Uber Driver Conditions in Jakarta
Jesus: Can you tell me what an ordinary day of work with Uber is like in Jakarta?
Enrique: We start driving with Uber from 5:00am until maybe 9 or 10:00pm. Just only get
ten bucks, this is crazy. There's a long day, just small money.
Jesus: So you earn on average USD $10 per day after working 14 hours. Wow. Tell me, why
did you start working with Uber? What were you doing before you worked for Uber?
Enrique: I am a salesman. I have a job in a retail department store. And I'm driving Uber
just to get extra money. Basically my job starts from 7:00am to 4:00pm and I start again
with driving with Uber from 5:00pm until 10:00, maybe 12:00am. I have to get extra money
to live in Jakarta. We need it.
Jesus: And how much money do you make driving Uber versus working at the retail store?
Enrique: Just five bucks working Uber. The retail store gives me 3.7 million Rupiah per
month[equal to USD $270].
Jesus: So that's also about $10 per day. But when you get paid by Uber then you have to
spend the money on working for Uber. Your motorcycle, your gas.
Enrique: For maintenance, the gas, and the machine. Service, everything. And the radio also.
Jesus: What does Uber actually give you?
Enrique: Nothing.
Jesus: What about your Uber motorcycle jacket?
Enrique: No, we have to pay for the jacket and the helmet. Uber still takes our money for
the jacket and the helmet. And they don't give anything, don't give anything, don't give
anything. For the full-time Uber drivers, it's really hard. It's really hard.
Ricardo: You know, the cheapest you can spend, the cost per day in Jakarta, the least you
can live on is like $5 or $6, that's the cheapest. That's the least, that's minimum. You
only maybe eat rice, eat more rice than meat. I can have one and a half rice instead of
half rice with a lot of meat. And sometimes they only have for dinner five minute noodles
with the rice. For me, it's a bit funny, carb and carb together. Noodles and rice, that's
all carb in there, there's no protein or nothing. Some of them they really only eat
noodles, like five minute noodles every day.
Jesus: What are some of the other problems with Uber?
Enrique: The insurance. The policy insures you, the driver, if the driver is with the
customer. So, if you are on the way to pick up the customer, and you have an accident on
the way, the policy doesn't cover you.
Jesus: And there are a lot of drivers who have accidents while not covered by Uber's
insurance?
Ricardo: Yes. Until now that gives us more than 15 drivers who have died like that. And
there's also a lot of accidents, like light accidents.
Jesus: Have you had any accidents?
Enrique: Yes, it's like an accident, but no die, yes. I not go to the hospital, I just buy
the medicine for myself. You want to see this?
Jesus: There are scars on your leg. Did you have broken bones, or you just lost skin?
Enrique: Just lost skin, just lost 2 cm of skin. I paid for myself at a clinic. And a
clinic in Indonesia is sometimes not a proper clinic. When I had the accident I called the
customer service and...
Jesus: The Uber customer service? Wait, why customer service? You're not a customer.
Enrique: Yes, a customer of the app. Not an employee. And they say, oh, I'm sorry, we
can't handle your accident, because there's no insurance policy. You're not in customer...
Ricardo: You're not with a customer so that's why they don't cover.
Jesus: To go back to the money issue, you were telling me how much an Uber driver makes
per day, roughly. What's the pay per kilometer?
Ricardo: 1,250 Rupiah per kilometer[less than 10 cents in US dollar].
Jesus: When you have a customer with you. But sometimes it can be lower, right? If there's
a promotion.For example, if Uber tells the customer, your ride is half off today, what
happens?
Ricardo: I'll explain it. If there's a promotion, 20%, maybe the customer would pay 25,000
normally, but with 20% discount the customer only pays 20,000. So the drivers get paid
from the 20,000. Not the 25,000. They pass the cost of the promotion on to the drivers.
The driver should get paid 10% of that 20,000.
Jesus: You only make 10% of what the customer pays - and after the discount for
promotions. And there have been times when customers get a free ride promotion, right? And
then you get paid....
Enrique: Zero percent. I get nothing, I get nothing.
Organizing KUMAN, an Anarcho-Syndicalist Union
Jesus: How did you start talking together with your co-workers about challenging this, and
how did you start fighting?
Enrique: We started with three people. We had been in other unions, KUMI and SUMI.
Jesus: And they kicked you out after you tried to organize a fight against Uber?
Enrique: That's correct. I had an idea with this before this union KUMI betrayed me. I
spoke with them, "Hey, it's time to us to fight against the new slavery!" "Hi, what are
you talking about? You are crazy, man." "No, I am not crazy. What do you think we have to
do? You are the fucking bastard! You are the crazy one! You don't want to fight against
the slavery." "No, we don't have to fight, we just follow the Quran." "This not my Quran."
"So, get out of here!", they talked with me like that.
And what I was thinking was, I have to take it to another of my friends. So we have to do
something with this problem in Uber Motors, especially for motorcycle drivers. We started
everything. What do we for the next step? So we made a group in Facebook and we started
with the information about the insurance, about the wages, about anything we feel that is
not correct for us. I get a group in Whatsapp and just talk about the trouble at Uber
Motors. So from the three people, then we had ten people, and then 100 people, until 500,
1,000, and 6,000 members until now.
So the first action we started in May. Then July, August, and September - we had four
strike actions with the same demands.
Jesus: Did you know these two other people before?
Enrique: Yes, I know these two people, it's like, for example - "Hey guys! we got a
problem, we have to solve it. We have to find the way to make a struggle, to collect other
people, the Uber motor drivers. So, I have a plan, so we have to do this. Okay guys, so
you have to do this and you have to do this and I will do this." We shared about the job
and what we want to do. And I do it, and we did it, and we started the struggle. And we
still haven't got a win. But we have to try!
Ricardo: Yes, it's not easy and we still have to push people, "continue, continue", and
let more people know that Uber is not doing the right thing.
Jesus: When did the three founders of KUMAN come into contact with PPAS[Persaudaraan
Pekerja Anarko-Sindikalis]?
Enrique: We, the three people, met with PPAS after the second strike. We had to learn
about the strategy. My friend, he said, okay guys, maybe you want to talk with someone,
with my friend. He had a friend, he was a member of PPAS. So we start about the strategy.
And we start affiliation with PPAS after the second strike.
Jesus: When you say there's an affiliation between PPAS and KUMAN, what does that mean?
Ricardo: It's working together. PPAS is well enough educated on anarcho-syndicalism. And
most of the KUMAN members, they want to have a syndicalist union. So at the moment PPAS
supports them with education - What is anarcho-syndicalism? What is a syndicalist union?
And they also support with "this is how to organise, this is how..." everything like that.
And PPAS also wants the ASF to back them up with this. This is a really big fight for
PPAS, this is really big. This is not a local company, but this is a bigger company with
the biggest money with them. PPAS is small and they have to support the 6,000 KUMAN members...
Enrique: But we learn, we learn.
Jesus: Can you describe some of the education that PPAS has done? I know that PPAS has
given talks and workshops for KUMAN members. Can you describe one of those?
Enrique: About how to make an organization, and how to move, it is like just for...
Ricardo: For moving from the small group into the bigger group.
Enrique: And, what we must do, for example like a struggle, a strategy, like anything. And
then more importantly we have to....
Ricardo: Mission and vision. They taught them how to understand what you really want with
your union. So, what is your mission. It is coming back to them - it is not from PPAS, but
PPAS just makes sure that they know, if this is what you want, then this is how to do it.
Something like that. So that is the PPAS strategy in how they educate, and I think they
also educate on what the anarcho-syndicalist platform is.
Jesus: What does anarcho-syndicalism mean to you, Enrique?
Enrique: That there is no leadership, and for me, leadership is bullshit.
Jesus: I think you said that in KUMAN, for the union general assemblies you change who's
leading the meetings.
Enrique: We always change. Who wants to talk? Okay, he wants to talk. So we give him the
time until the meeting to change with another person to make a presentation, maybe; but
just that. No leadership. Leadership just makes an elite, so an elite maybe will feel
that: Hey, I have you guys, you have to do this, you have to fight with this, or anything.
So I don't like it.
Jesus: Can you talk about the union's vision, what is KUMAN's vision?
Enrique: KUMAN's vision is that we want drivers to be in control with management.
Ricardo: So, they want to have power to negotiate what the policy should be. That is what
they want. They also have a mission to gather all the driver unions in the same side. They
want to make a bigger union, and even different platform apps.
Jesus: So one union for all the different ridesharing apps?
Enrique: Yes. Like GoJek, Grab, others.
Ricardo: GoJek is the first ride sharing app in Indonesia. GoJek also has Go-Food, like
for delivery.
Jesus: How is the anarcho-syndicalist model different from other forms of unions or other
political positions that you might encounter in Jakarta?
Enrique: Anarcho-syndicalism, for me, means we work together, we learn together.
Ricardo: The thing that he tried to explain to me a little bit, is that there is no
hierarchy in there; they are doing direct action. The difference with the other unions
that we have in Indonesia is a lot of them are the... I'm not saying that they're
yellow[allied with the company], I'm more saying that they're are fake unions. 80% of all
the unions are only there to take money from the workers. They fight for their own agendas
of the union leadership and they use the workers to get what they want.
Jesus: Have you ever been a member of another union?
Enrique: No. About unions, I didn't have a basic understanding. Just learning about the
situation, I guess. Learning about how to solve this problem. I have to think and I have
to do, that's just it.
Starting the Fight Against Uber
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Jesus: Can you tell me about the first strike? How did you decide to go on strike back in May?
Ricardo: The trigger of the strike was when Uber tried to reduce the driver bonus - when
you gave 35 trips in a week you got a 350,000 Rupiah[USD $26]bonus. Then they cut to 35
trips and you get only 150,000 Rupiah[USD $10.50]. That is the trigger. After that they
have found everything else, like the insurance policies. When they started, it was not
with all the fourteen demands against Uber, but they started from one and they found
another, and another.
Jesus: So the first demand was against the cut to the bonus system?
Ricardo: Then it was getting bigger, and they found that the policy for the insurance is
no good.
Jesus: What was the first strike like?
Enrique: We made flyers, in Facebook, WhatsApp group, and Telegram. We made the flyers one
week before the strike, saying at this date we will come to the hot spot.
Jesus: During the strike drivers log out of the Uber app, right? They go offline?
Enrique: They go offline, all day long.
Jesus: And then you asked people to come to the Uber offices to have a demonstration?
Enrique: Yes, right.
Ricardo: Not every driver comes, and there are usually still drivers online. It's not
everyone out for the first strike... How many people were in the first strike?
Enrique: In the first, maybe 70 to 100.
Jesus: What did you do at the demonstration?
Ricardo: They made speeches outside the Uber building. They also had banners.... And also
before this there was an accident - not a bad one, like a road accident. And even the
driver that got in an accident also came to the demonstration.
Enrique: Uber sent the representative of the management to find us, and we had the paper
of demands so we gave it. They said, okay, we received the paper of demands and we will
give it to the boss. I do not know whether she lied or not. And then outside, we yelled at
the bosses: "Hey, who the fuck are you! Give me money!"
Jesus: How did that feel?
Enrique: Oh, it felt great for me. This was great for me, and now the people at the
demonstration will feel better too. They have spent a long time waiting in the situation
to yell at Uber about their trouble. We needed this struggle.
Jesus: After people went and confronted their bosses, did people feel more powerful?
Ricardo: They are happy after what they did with Uber management. They were angry inside,
then they released that at management and then that made them happy.
Enrique: Yes, it made them happy; and after we finished the demonstration we did an
evaluation to make a second strike. We have to learn, so we use the first strike. So, what
do we have to do in the next strike? Some members tell me, okay guys, maybe for the next
strike, we have to do this.
Jesus: Since then you have had three more one day strikes, and each time it has grown a
little bit?
Ricardo: After the first strike, there's more people and more confidence to go to do the
strike. And it's cost the drivers a lot because they're not working when they're on
strike. And after they went on the first strike, they didn't get anything from the Uber
company. And they did it again in July and they still haven't got their demands yet. And
they did it a third time, still the same and the fourth time they, Uber company, their
management, they weren't there, so...
Jesus: Were they hiding?
Enrique: Yes, they were hiding. They were so scared with the people outside.
Ricardo: That's the day that we also organized actions in Australia on the same day, 9
September. And also in Spain, Poland and Serbia, and Brighton, England.
Ricardo: Also, these strikes are good for KUMAN to encourage other members. Also to
encourage other drivers to join KUMAN and do the next demonstration. That's what they
want. If they can get everyone in Uber to join KUMAN. That is one of their aims.
Jesus: How many Uber motorcycle drivers are there, just in Jakarta?
Ricardo: 10 thousand. It's only 2 thousand with KUMAN in Jakarta.
Jesus: That's a lot.
Ricardo: Yes, but if they strike there's still 8 thousand left, and maybe from the 2
thousand, there will still not be 100% who will go.
Inside KUMAN
Jesus: You've organized the union, you've started working with PPAS, you've had four
strikes, you have organized, you've grown. What's the situation now?
Ricardo: They want to create a group with the drivers from other rideshare apps with other
companies. That's kind of really difficult - not really difficult; it's kind of tricky. If
we get this bigger thing, they already have unions in the other companies.
Jesus: What have those unions at the other rideshare apps done? Have they also had strikes?
Ricardo: No, they haven't got any strikes yet, but we believe that they may.
Jesus: Do they have a union contract?
Ricardo: No. This union is only inside the company, it's not an affiliate of other unions.
Jesus: This is just a small union, like an independent, informal group of workers?
Ricardo: Yes. GoJek is now reducing all their wages. GoJek used to be 2,500 Rupiah per
kilometer[18 cents USD$], now it is 1,600 per kilometer[11 cents USD$]. It's a really big
drop, and also the other, Grab, has dropped. They believe that they, the other two
companies, will match up with Uber.
Jesus: Which also means that if the Uber drivers win and get raises, then it's good for
everyone.
Ricardo: Yeah, it's good for everyone. So that's what KUMAN wants. They also want to stop
the other companies. If the other groups join with KUMAN, the other two companies will be
aware that they can't cut their rate again. But if KUMAN focuses on that thing, in the
collaboration with the other group, they also have to see the inside of their own home,
which is a lot of debates inside KUMAN. The situation is that they have inside KUMAN
different tendencies.
Jesus: Can you explain some of the different ideas or tendencies within KUMAN workers?
Because KUMAN started from three people, but now it's grown to be big. As it grows, there
are different kinds of people with different ideas who come and join.
Ricardo: One of the biggest problems is with a fascist group inside....
Jesus: So there are nationalists?
Ricardo: Yes, nationalists. Sri Bintang Pamungkas - that's the leader of the group. And
there's also what we call in Indonesia a political broker. Say that you are a part of the
Clinton side of the party, and then you come to me and say - or you're from the fascist
group, national assembly - and you try to break us up. You came with a lot of money and
said, guys, let's work with me and we will do all the demonstrations against the
government, as the government is not good. You give the money as an incentive, like we
have in Indonesia. There are a lot of people like that who work for the parties.
Jesus: They work for one of the main political parties?
Ricardo: They work for the opposition party, the one that is not governing.
Jesus: They're trying to buy supporters and use them against their political opponents,
and trying to get the union to be part of a political party.
Ricardo: Yes. They say, let's come with me and then I'll give you money. And if someone
can get more than ten people with them, he will get more money. Then there are also the
people that are still scared of communism and they think that anarchism is a part of
communism.
Ricardo: That's also something else that PPAS and KUMAN need to work on.
Jesus: You're trying to do a lot of education and tell people that anarchism has nothing
to do with communism?
Ricardo: Yes, you don't have to be a communist to be an anarchist. But I am a communist,
so....
Jesus: Well, that's maybe a subtlety of terminology that can be discussed later on once
people have a different understanding of what communism is. Can you just briefly say what
happened in 1965, and why people have this fear of communism?
Ricardo: Yes, we used to have the president Sukarno. He is the one that fought and said no
to the United States. He always said no to the CIA, and he had good relations with Eastern
Europe, with Russia, the Czechs.... There was a rumor that seven army generals were going
to make a coup against the president.
Jesus: So the generals were assassinated, and it is unclear exactly what happened, but
after that the communists were blamed.
Ricardo: After that day, after the 1 October, I don't believe it, but General Suharto had
a signed paper that he said Sukarno gave him, a commandment to lead the country. We
believe that Suharto had a gun to Sukarno's head and made Sukarno give him this.
Suharto took power with force after the assassinations of the generals. Since that day, he
started to bring down everything that had to do with communism. He blamed the killing of
the generals on the communists. At the time the Indonesian communist party was one of the
biggest parties in Indonesia, so he just chopped down everything and he killed a lot of
people.
Jesus: Something like 650,000 people were killed, and then the people who did the killing
are still in power, more or less?
Ricardo: Yes.
Jesus: And so that's why people don't like the word communist, which now causes trouble
for KUMAN? Because people now associate anything revolutionary, anything anti-capitalist -
they associate that with this period and the people who Suharto said tried to destabilise
the country, who had to be massacred
Enrique: Yes. And this is the challenge for KUMAN; to explain syndicalism is this, and
communism is this. This is a big challenge inside KUMAN, I think.
Jesus: Okay, last thoughts? What's next for the struggle?
Enrique: I guess it will be same demands, but a different strategy. I guess I don't need a
lot of people for the next strike; I just need maybe 50 to make chaos. This is the
strategy, that we made with all the regions' delegates from the union.
Jesus: This is what people decided to do after the evaluation of the last strike? Now
people think: okay, we need to have more impact. And cause trouble.
Enrique: Yes, more impact, and we will be seen more.
Ricardo: They have to do it with really good preparation; otherwise it's going to be the
same again.
Jesus: And you're hoping for international support for your struggle. What can people do?
Ricardo: Just do a picket. It doesn't have to be a demonstration, but like for them to
show us banners in front of the Uber management, saying that this is solidarity for the
KUMAN drivers in Indonesia.
Jesus: And if you're an Uber driver then you should organize a union and join KUMAN,
International.
Enrique: KUMAN, USA.
http://blackrosefed.org/indonesian-uber-drivers-fight-back-with-anarcho-syndicalism/
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