Anarkismo Network

France perpetrated two large deceptions in conducting its military intervention into Mali six weeks ago. These have been universally accepted in mainstream media reporting.

We will no longer see one of the most important men in Latin America in the last decade. It is impossible not to be somewhat shaken by this fact. We do not doubt that they will be celebrating with the most expensive champagne in Chacao. Naturally that is not our feeling, nor is it that of the Venezuelan masses. We can only feel solidarity with them in their sense of grief over the passing of one who in recent years was their undisputed leader and benchmark for the popular movement across the continent. [http://www.anarkismo.net/article/25037]

A Rally of education workers to call for a rejection of the Croke Park 'extension' deal will be held in the Gresham Hotel, Dublin, on Saturday next 9th March at 12 noon.  The rally is bring organised as a result of an initiative from 5 branches of the Teachers Union of Ireland which called an organising meeting last week. This meeting was attended by over 60 union members, mainly branch and district officers, from the 4 teaching unions (TUI, ASTI, INTO and IFUT) as well as representatives from SIPTU's Education branch and from some other public service union.

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Why he lost, and what this tells us about the Post-Apartheid ANC
This article aims to explain, from an anarchist / syndicalist perspective, the rapid rise and fall of Julius Malema, the controversial and corrupt multi-millionaire leader of South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) “youth league” (ANCYL). It is demonstrated that Malema’s posturing as radical champion of the black poor was simply a means to an end: rising higher in the ranks of the ANC, in order to access bigger state tenders and higher paying political office.

The larger political implications of the Malema affair are also considered, especially the role of the ANC – as a vehicle for the accumulation of wealth and power by the rising black elite, which is centred on the state.

Several hundred people took part in a demonstration in Dublin last night demanding the government legislate for abortion access as laid down in the X-Case judgement over 21 years ago. Government after government have refused to introduce this legislation due to politicians own conservatism and their fear of the huge resources of the US funded anti-choice movement.  But the massive mobilisations that followed news of the death of Savita Halappanavar after she was refused an abortion in a Galway hospital in the Autumn have forced the Labour Party & Fine Gael to finally begin the process of introducing legislation.

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For years now, the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT), together with the feminist movements, has been continuing its efforts in this country for recognition of equal rights between women and men. Despite these efforts, which continue those undertaken by our grandmothers, mothers, friends - women's rights as citizens, workers and people continue to be violated to this day. [http://www.anarkismo.net/article/25021]

Reinstate Inherent Rights Of Ugandans
The campaign aims at calling on the international and local communities to educate the Uganda Government and organizations supporting its enacting laws that criminalize and segregate against people of other sexual orientation other than the heterosexuals and also to pressurize the government to observe and respect inherent human rights of individuals and groups.

The State has legitimized the educational project of the country's ruling class, that understands education as a consumer good, geared to meet the needs of the model whereby corporate interests prevail over popular interests. We realize that our structural demands are alerting the class whose interests are served by the current form of market education, so we need a strong people, able to effectively break the model, if we are to win. [http://www.anarkismo.net/article/25029]

When he was in Moscow on Thursday 28 February last, the day when the trial of 19 militants from the Russian Socialist Movement (revolutionary Marxists and Trotskyists), the Left Front of Russia (in opposition to the Communist Party) and Autonomous Action (libertarian communists) started, François Hollande kept quiet in the name of the superior interests of French companies who do business with Russia. [http://www.anarkismo.net/article/25020]

On March 03, 2013,in the village of La Esmeralda, in the municipality of Rovira (Tolima), the peasant organiser Maribel Oviedo was illegally detained, without an arrest warrant, by membes of the Infantry Batallion VI. She is member of the Association of Rural Workers of Tolima (ASTRACATOL).

An unprecedented situation is taking place in the city of Port Said - complete self-management, a rejection of everything that authority represents. It is a situation that the main actors in the Egyptian struggle at this time - the workers - are trying to reproduce in other cities too. [

Maan News: "West Bank boiling as popular resistance grows - round up of demonstrations in Nabi Saleh, Bilin, Nilin, Hebron, Qaddum, Qalandia, Bethlehem, Anata, Salfit, Abu Dis, Nablus, South west..." Meanwhile the escalation of the transfer efforts and terror of settlers continue. The third Intifada collect momentum focused around the hunger striking Palestinian prisoners. The joint daily vigils at the Jaffa clock tower continue as well as the week end joint struggles in the occupied Palestinian west bank and the within 1948 borders Bedouins of the south. The focus of this weekend was Bil'in were about 100 Israelis with the anarchists against the wall and about 100 Palestinians from the region joined village activists to mark the 8th yearly anniversary of the persistent joint struggle that initiated the popular unarmed struggle in western Palestine. [http://www.anarkismo.net/article/25073]

Over a quarter of a million people demonstrated against government austerity and Troika rule in Lisbon this Saturday gone. Hundreds of thousands more demostrated in towns and cities the length and breadth of Portugal. The biggest demonstrations against austerity yet in the Eurozone. Who's afraid of the Eurozone's most rebellious PIG? The Irish media, apparently, given the failure of RTE, Irish Times or the INM stable to cover the story. Maybe they think we'd get funny ideas? In any case, the next time someone tells you about media censorship in place like Russia, China and North Korea, don't forget to mention the Irish media's coverage of Portuguese resistance to the Troika. 

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This Sunday, 3rd March, Swiss voters, by a whopping majority of by 68%, struck fear into the corporate world by backing a citizen’s initiative referendum to curb top executives pay. Over two-thirds of the citizenry backed a package of proposals including a ban on “golden hellos” and “golden parachutes”, making shareholder votes on pay binding on corporate boards, requiring yearly term limits to board membership and requiring pension fund shareholder votes to be transparent, along with jail terms for executives that break the rules. The citizen’s initiative passed against the background of vocal screeching from the united ranks of the corporate elite, Switzerland’s largest multinationals including Nestlé, Credit Suisse, Novartis, ABB and nearly all the political parties.

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Dublin's annual Feminist Walking Tour will take visitors from the north side to the south side, exploring women's struggles, activism, and achievements through history. Free to all, activity sheets for kids will be provided, and join us afterwards for drinks at the Pav Bar* in Trinity College. Food will even be provided!

 

Saturday, 9 March 2013
14:30 - meet in front of Hugh Lane Gallery on Parnell square

Event date and time:  Sat, 2013-03-09 14:30 - 15:30

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"We shall carry out all possible reforms in the spirit in which an army advances ever forwards by snatching the enemy-occupied territory in its path." - Errico Malatesta(1)

By Thomas (Miami Autonomy & Solidarity)

“We shall carry out all possible reforms in the spirit in which an army advances ever forwards by snatching the enemy-occupied territory in its path.” – Errico Malatesta[i]

As anarchist communists, we are against reformism.  However, we are for reforms.  We believe that fundamentally the entire system of capitalism, the state and all systems of hierarchy, domination, oppression and exploitation of humans over humans must be abolished and replaced with a direct democracy, egalitarian social relations and a classless economy that bases contribution according to ability and distribution according to need.  However, such a social revolution can only occur through the power of the popular classes themselves from the bottom-up.  In advancing towards such a social revolution and a free and equal society, we must build our power in preparation for this fundamental transformation of the world, building on struggles along the way.  Ultimately our demands will be too threatening to the elite classes for them to bear; and their resistance to our drive for freedom will be too much for us to tolerate any longer.

Against Reformism

We are against reformism.  Reformism is the belief that the system as it currently exists can remain, but just needs to be slightly improved.  For reformists, reform is the end goal.  They are not against the system; they are against what they see as the “excesses” of the system.  We don’t see the harm that the system does as excesses of the system, but expressions of the fundamental nature of the system.  We see the reformists trying to hold down the lid of a boiling pot of water, or letting steam go from that boiling pot now and then; but they do not address the fundamental problem.

For example, the problems under capitalism aren’t because some capitalists are greedy or unfair- which they are; but rather that capitalism itself is the problem.  Our global wealth has been historically created from the labor, resources and land from around the world.  While the genius of human technology, innovation and hard work have been a factor; so slavery, exploitation, monopolization and theft have been a factor.  But regardless of the degrees to which oppression or human genius played their respective roles in the creation of wealth, there can be no doubt that every advance is completely rooted in social relations and circumstance, as well as historical processes.  Kropotkin describes this from one perspective in The Conquest of Bread.[ii]  If this is so, why are some allowed to own and control the land, wealth and the means of production?  Shouldn’t these be the common property of all as the inheritance of all that has been contributed by human history and the complex social processes that interacted to bring us to, and maintain the wealth that we have today?  So how can we justify maintaining a system where some benefit more than others from the historically developed and socially maintained wealth?   And how can we call only for reform of that system? It’d be like sitting at a family dinner where your brother claims to own the kitchen even though you’re cooking dinner with your parents.  Your brother then receives all of the food produced and gives you and your parents each 10% of the food while he keeps 70% of it as the owner.  A reformist response would be to say that if only each member of the family were able to get a 15% or 20% portion each (leaving your brother with a 55% or 40% share for being the “owner”), everyone would be alright and less hungry.    Our response would be that it’s not about redistribution, the original distribution itself is flawed, and so is the system of ownership and work responsibility of the family.  We must create a completely new system in which people share the common products of labor, which is carried out according to each person’s ability.

Against Purism

So if we’re against reformism, or reforms as the only goal, shouldn’t we be against reforms themselves?  No.  We want to make gains, and we are against the position that gains are pointless.  Purism is the tendency of some to try to be so pure in their ideological position that they are unable to deal with the sloppiness of reality.   It wrongly equates reforms with reformism itself.  It rejects any position that doesn’t exactly mirror its ideological position.   It leaves little room for dialogue and building with others, and instead is trapped in a position of constantly calling for the long-term vision without a clear proposal as to how to get there, or a clear way to build with people along the way.  Purism often leads little room for activity besides ungrounded agitational writing and abstract theorizing from the sidelines.  This “all or nothing” approach leaves little room for development towards a revolutionary situation.  It ignores how the short and medium-term can connect to a long-term vision, and instead only focuses on the long term.
For Building Power and Advancing

So what is the solution for anarchist communists?  We seek to build power towards a revolution.  We feel that only the mass movements of the oppressed, exploited and dominated classes will be able to end oppression, exploitation and domination.  As members of these classes, we seek to contribute to these movements.  In the short-term, we seek to make gains in consciousness, capacity, skills, solidarity, and organization.  From a revolutionary perspective this involves what the FARJ calls social work and social insertion[iii].   At first we are participating in the social movements- social work- often times without being able to have our views gain traction.  Through consistent, principled and effective participation, we are able to build relationships with others; establish trust and respect; and dialogue with others about our views and positions.  After a while, we hope to achieve some degree of social insertion: the influencing of social movements in the direction of being more directly democratic, more combative, more class-conscious, more anti-hierarchical, more infused with a long-term revolutionary consciousness, and so on.

In the short-term, we also want to win reforms.  Losing in a reform struggle can demoralize participants around the possibility of struggle achieving gains; and winning in a reform struggle can demobilize participation and energy as people feel that they have succeed.  But likewise, winning in reform struggles can build confidence, organization, capacity, solidarity, skills, and power; and losing in a reform struggle, can strengthen resolve and sharpen strategy.   The point is that although we want reforms because they improve the lives of the oppressed and popular classes of which we are a part; even more fundamental to struggle– whether we win or lose- is developing the strength of the movement, which can come out of both wins and gains in reform struggles.

Some important elements within reform struggles are to:

1) fight the reforms directly using bottom-up, collective power against elite power instead of legalistic, electoral or other top-down “solutions”.  This will build power rather than reinforcing savior complex dependencies.

2) always acknowledge before the end of the struggle the risks of losing- and being prepared to deal with this- as well as emphasizing the importance of struggle beyond the particular reform.   Whether reforms are won or lost, the struggle continues until the unjust situation is changed.

3) always reflecting, always acknowledging areas to improve and always attempting to improve these things together.  If we aren’t basing our struggle in praxis- the combination of action and reflection- then we’re either engaging in empty, ungrounded theory from the sidelines, or thoughtless, ineffective activism.

In the medium term, we want to build power.  Of course we want to lessen exploitation, oppression, and domination where possible; but in the medium term- regardless of whether any given reform is won or lost- the struggle itself must serve to strengthen the social movements and class-based organizations so that they are able to grow and be more effective in future struggles.  We want to create a dynamic in which bottom-up, directly democratic, anti-hierarchical, collective and anti-oppressive class-based power grows stronger and stronger over time.  This power is the result of increased and shared consciousness of the causes of exploitation, domination and oppression and of the ways to fight and eventually end them.  It’s the result of better functioning organizations; more solidarity; less internal oppression between members and a shared commitment of all to centrally challenge different manifestations of institutional, systemic and cultural oppression; more skill development and more equal distribution of skill development; greater commitment to struggle; a realization of more effective ways to struggle; and so on.

In the long-term, we want this popular bottom-up power to grow to the point where it can effectively end all systems of oppression, domination and exploitation, and replace them with directly democratic, egalitarian, anti-hierarchical and cooperative political, economic and social systems.  We see this revolutionary situation coming about after decades of battles- wins and losses- in which the popular classes steadily increase their power and continue to demand more and more until the demands of the popular classes are too much to concede for the elite classes; and the power of the popular classes is enough to effectively carry-out revolution: the abolition of the state and all forms of government that dictate from above, and the replacement of this with directly democratic popular decision-making; the expropriation of the land and means of production from the capitalist class and its bottom-up socialized self-management by the workers and communities; the establishment of classless, egalitarian and cooperative global economies in which economic contribution is according to ability and economic distribution is according to need; the abolition of all systems of oppression and their replacement with social systems, cultural practices and relations that value and respect all people in their full humanity and individuality; the abolition of national systems that value one people over another and their replacement that gives dignity, self-determination and freedom to all human beings and values them equally as human beings across the globe; the end of environmental devastation and its replacement with practices of environmental sustainability and stewardship.

Advancing

In short, we must reject the mentality- reformism- that sees any given reform- or even series of reforms- as the final objective in our struggles.  We also must reject the mentality- purism- that rejects all reforms as reformism, and as counterproductive and useless.  Instead, we must engage in struggles for reforms in the short-term.  These reform struggles must be the means by which we build bottom-up and horizontal popular power- and the corresponding consciousness, skills, solidarity, capacity and organization- in the medium-term.  We must not stop building this power, but continue grow, develop and advance- even if we falter or are defeated temporarily at times- towards the possibility of a revolutionary situation in which we destroy the fundamental causes of exploitation, domination and oppression themselves, not just their symptoms.

[i] Malatesta, Errico. The Anarchist Revolution: Polemical Articles 1924- 1931. Pg. 81

[ii] Kropotkin, Peter. The Conquest of Bread. Chapter 1: Our Riches: http://libcom.org/library/conquestofbread1906peterkropotkin1

[iii] “Especifismo in Brazil: An Interview with the Anarchist Federation of Rio de Janeiro (FARJ)” by Johnathan Payn. Anarkismo.net: http://www.anarkismo.net/article/19343

Greece: 50 Ways to Kill your people...

Threats, stigmatisation and criminalisation of the campesino social movement of Anaime and Cajamarca, which opposes AngloGold Ashanti’s La Colosa project in Colombia.

Fighting For Ourselves: Anarcho-Syndicalism and the Class Struggle (from this point on referred to as FFO) is an important contribution to existing introductory anarchist works and an essential read for those aiming to familiarise themselves with both historical and contemporary anarcho-syndicalist thought and practice. The book stands as a testament to the seriousness with which the authors treat their ideas and it is to their credit that the text is available both so cheaply as well as orientated towards all levels of readership.