Reading group #11 anarchist organising part 1

London Anarchist Federation

Going back to theory! The next two reading groups (in April and May) will be about anarchist organising, namely about Synthesis, Platform & Syndicalism.

We’ll start on 16 April (7pm at Freedom bookshop) with Synthesis and Platform and the following texts:

SYNTHESIS:

Anarchist FAQ: What are ‘synthesis’ federations? p. 2604-2609

Voline, Synthesis (Anarchist)                                                                            https://www.libertarian-labyrinth.org/anarchist-beginnings/voline-synthesis-anarchist/

PLATFORM:

Anarchist FAQ: What is the ‘Platform’? & Why do many anarchists oppose the ‘Platform’? p. 2610-2622

Malatesta/Makhno: About the platform
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/errico-malatesta-and-nestor-makhno-about-the-platform

Organisational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft)
http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=1000

After this, reading group no 12 (21 May) will be on Syndicalism with the reading list published closer to the time.

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System Series – Part Four – A history of revolutions

Angry Workers of the World

This is a draft for the fourth part of our system series – it will be published in our local workers’ paper WorkersWildWest. We want to write something basic about the system we live in and the possibility of social revolution – for our colleagues. We don’t want to compromise on the complexity of the issue and we try to avoid lefty jargon. Let us know what you think and we can re-work the draft:

angryworkersworld@gmail.com

——

In the first part of this series we wrote about how the current system emerged. We saw that the struggle of serfs and peasants was strong enough to break the personal oppression by the landlords – but they were not strong enough to keep their land and get hold of the means to produce what they needed to survive. A new system emerged where they had to sell their life time and energy…

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Statement from the Indigenous Community of Nahuatzen Against Recent State Repression (Michoacán, Mexico) — Voices in Movement

This communiqué comes from the Indigenous community of Nahuatzen, denouncing the latest acts of repression carried out by the Michoacán police on March 26th, 2019. Four compañeros were detained after a peaceful demonstration in support of three other compañeros of the community council that have been imprisoned since November of 2018. Nahuatzen is one of…

via Statement from the Indigenous Community of Nahuatzen Against Recent State Repression (Michoacán, Mexico) — Voices in Movement

The sunshine revolution

winter oak

3,000 Gilets Jaunes gathered in the countryside near Nîmes in southern France

Report by Paul Cudenec of Shoal Collective.

Saturday March 16 2019 will probably go down in history as the day that Macron and his government gave up waiting for the Gilets Jaunes movement to fade away.

Huge numbers of Yellow Vests packed the Champs Elysées in Paris for Act 18 of their revolt and were immediately attacked by police.

But they had come ready for a fight, for a revolution even, and took the offensive against the armed forces of the regime, despite all the tear gas, water cannon, rubber bullets, grenades and armoured vehicles.

Police were pelted with stones and repeatedly forced to retreat, in an eight-hour battle in the boulevard that has long symbolised chic Parisian affluence.

The rabble that had invaded this inner sanctuary of wealth wasted no time in trashing boutiques, eateries…

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A 14% turnout = a breakdown of trust in local (and national) government

Last Thursday (21.3), there were a couple of local council by-elections in the area we cover. One was in the Vange ward in Basildon: Election results for Vange, 21 March 2019 and the other was in the Milton ward in Southend-on-Sea: Milton By-Election. In Vange, the turnout was 14%. The turnout for Milton isn’t noted on the Southend Borough Council results page but reliable sources in the town have confirmed it as around 20%.

Both seats were won by Labour. We hope that both of the winning candidates will take a look at the turnout, their share of the vote of those who turned out, and most importantly, their share of the vote out of all of those eligible to vote. We hope they then reflect on what that means for their legitimacy. Any honest councillor would look at these turnouts and admit that as things stand, they have to…

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Waterstones paying millions to US ‘vulture fund’ owners while denying staff living wage — Corporate Watch

Waterstones staff are demanding to be paid the living wage. Management say the company can’t afford it but an investigation by Corporate Watch has found: Waterstones’ new owner – US hedge fund Elliot Advisors – has set up an offshore financing scheme that could see it make £17 million a year from the bookseller. Managing…

via Waterstones paying millions to US ‘vulture fund’ owners while denying staff living wage — Corporate Watch

Planting vegetables (and fruit) and building communities

The Brexit omni-shambles is heading to a toxic, divisive and potentially chaotic conclusion if we exit the EU with no deal. Most of the Leavers and Remainers we know are feeling totally alienated from the political process and are losing faith in the system. There’s a sense that we’re just pawns in a bigger game and that our hopes, aspirations and fears simply don’t matter to those who presume to rule over us.

What Alternative Estuary is about is encouraging people to start taking back control over their lives and communities from the grassroots upwards. One way we can start doing that is by setting up community gardens for the production of food. A no deal Brexit could potentially pose a threat to food supplies, particularly imported fresh vegetables and fruit that would only be seasonally available here in the UK. Community vegetable and fruit gardens are a long term…

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Meltdown…

Rrrrright, now … ahahahahah

Yesterday (Wednesday 27.3), Parliament attempted to exercise its ‘control’ of the Brexit omnishambles by ‘debating’ and then voting on a range of indicative alternatives to the Withdrawal Agreement that has been voted on and defeated twice. Parliament, couldn’t come up with any alternative that could secure a majority of votes. Less that 48 hours before what was supposed to be the scheduled departure date from the EU – 11pm, Friday 29th March – and those who presume to ‘rule’ over us haven’t got a sodding clue how to move things forwards.

That distant sound of laughter coming from somewhere to the south east of these screwed up islands that constitute the (dis)United Kingdom? That’s Brussels and the EU 27 pissing themselves laughing at the bunch of clowns in government and Parliament attempting to get out of the deep, dark, dank and fetid hole they’ve dug themselves into.

Looking at the…

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Outcome from our first meeting

Green Anti-Capitalist Front

Critique of XR – although everyone who attended had their
own critique with XR, building a positive narrative of what an anticapitalist future
might look like is more important that pointing out the failures of others. We
can bring people around to our way of thinking by articulating an alternative.

GAF as network – climate change is one of the biggest issues
of our time. GAF could unite groups and individuals in different anticapitalistic
tendencies to fight together.

Youth Strike – this movement is inspiring. We should work to
spread anticapitalist ideas amongst students whilst respecting their self-organisation.
We do not want to control or recruit them but we do want them to learn of the
role capitalism plays in environmental destruction.

Political statement – the GAF manifesto could be refined.
Ideas include the decolonisation of the non-violence narrative and more on
building a positive future. We will delay working…

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Anarcho/class struggle event listings for late March — Cautiously pessimistic

A quick list of upcoming events: This weekend will see stuff happening in Bristol, Barnsley and Birmingham, as Bristol antifascists are hosting a fundraiser, women involved in the South Yorkshire Women Against Pit Closures campaign are launching a book about their struggle, and there’s a march against police brutality through Birmingham after a recent police […]

via Anarcho/class struggle event listings for late March — Cautiously pessimistic