Pakistan floods: anarchist global relief effort of the WSF-IWA

AWSM

The Workers Solidarity Federation, Pakistan section of the anarcho-syndicalist International Workers’ Association (IWA), are currently engaged in relief efforts to communities affected by the extraordinary floods caused by climate change.

Throughout 2022, Pakistan experienced an unusually intense heat-wave, with temperatures exceeding 50 degree celsius by May. With over 7,000 glaciers, Pakistan’s glacier count is only outnumbered by the polar regions1 , and the high temperatures, that affected much of South Asia, caused glacial melt, which in turn triggered the failure of ice dams and outburst floods. Water from these outburst flood travelled along tributaries and flowed into the main rivers, including the Indus River, Pakistan’s largest, causing their banks to break. The end result are the flash floods in Pakistan, exacerbated by the record monsoon rains that began in June. The events in Pakistan can be added to the list of spectacular instances of capitalism-induced climate breakdown.

The floods in Pakistan have so far affected two-thirds of Pakistan’s districts, destroyed two million acres of farmland, caused over 1500 deaths, and led to the displacement of 33 million people,2 with Unicef suggesting 16 million children affected so far. 3 All reasonable estimates indicate that millions in Pakistan now face the prospect of malnutrition and infections, particularly those caused by water-borne diseases.

In response to this, on 23rd August, members of the Workers Solidarity Federation, founded in May 2020 as the Pakistan section of the anarcho-syndicalist International Workers’ Association (IWA) established an emergency fund for disaster relief and began distributing food in flood-affected areas.4 In the course of the floods, some of their members involved in distributing aid in Balochistan became homeless5 , despite this they continued to distribute over 200 meals to families in the region.6 Since then, their relief efforts, supported by anarchists from around the world, have provided direct disaster relief to thousands of people affected by the ongoing floods in Balochistan and Sindh, in an extraordinary tale of mutual aid and transnational solidarity. On 4th September, WSF established a Flood Relief camp in Karachi.7 , distributing goods and cash to those in need.8 On 10th September, in Balochistan, WSF provided tents to people displaced by the floods. On 13th September, WSF members distributed food to people in the Dadu district of Sindh, travelling by boat across the flooded area9 , providing food supplies to 105 families10 . On 18th September, in Balochistan, WSF distributed food rations tents, mosquito nets, and infant care to the effected people in coming days.11 . On 25th September, WSF installed water tanks to provide clean water and distributed food.12 As at the time of writing, their relief efforts continue.

In the wake of any major disaster, where state and capital are absent, and a community is left to fend for itself, people self-organise on the basis of a need to survive. The self-organisation of disaster communities, to an extent, embodies anarchist principles of decentralised organisation, socialisation of resources, mutual aid, and co-operation. These principles come to the fore amidst disasters because they are taken as the most expedient option for maximising people’s chances of survival, but they are also measures that contradict the logic of capital and the state, which sooner or later will reclaim the lost territory, unless it is prevented from doing so by a large, armed, anarchist body.

The activities of the WSF-IWA are some of the most significant and heroic examples of anarchist praxis to date, and are particularly extraordinary considering that the WSF is only two years’ old.

To support the relief effort of the WSF, donate here: https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/8NfSnN0RXl  13

https://libcom.org/article/pakistan-floods-anarchist-global-relief-effort-wsf-iwa

UKOG share placing raises another £3m for operations in Turkey.

DRILL OR DROP?

Weald-based UK Oil & Gas plc (UKOG) announced this morning it has raised £3m to spend in Turkey.

The funds were raised in a placing of more than 3 billion new shares. UKOG said in a statement the money would funds further seismic testing and a new appraisal well in the Resan licence in Turkey.

The funds were raised in a placing of more than 3 billion new shares. UKOG said in a statement the money would funds further seismic testing and a new appraisal well in the Resan licence in Turkey. The well was expected to produce oil in the first half of next year, UKOG said. This is the most recent of a series of placings to raise money for operations in Turkey. UKOG raised £1.5m in July 2022 and a further £5m in July 2021. The company said today:

“The placing has been undertaken to provide the Company with a source of general working capital and to help deliver the Company’s previously stated near term goals of completing the Phase 2 Turkey seismic programme and the subsequent drilling of a new appraisal well in the Basur oil discovery, anticipated to be able to add near-term oil production to the Company in H1 2023.”

The shares were issued at 0.0875p, a 20% discount on the previous closing price. UKOG’s share price at the time of writing was down more than 18% at 0.09p. Following the placing, total voting rights in UKOG now stand at more than 21 billion (21,096,376,104).

New finance officer

UKOG also announced it appointed a new chief finance officer. Guzyal Mukhametzhanova replaces Matt Gormley, who is leaving the company. Ms Mukhametzhanova has worked for KPMG’s energy and natural resources practice and JKX Oil and Gas Limited, where she was group financial controller and finance director. Her role at UKOG is a non-board position, the company said.

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IWA History Conference, 1st – 2nd October, 28 Pułku Strzelców, Łódź, Poland

Updated Schedule Information:
Times: Saturday Oct. 1 – Sunday Oct. 2 11AM – 16:30PM UTC+2 (Central Europe) Transmission Live on You Tube, Recording Will be Available After
Times for some other countries:
10AM – 15:30 UTC + 1 (UK, Ireland)
12:00 – 17:30 UTC+3 (Western Russia, Ukraine)
14:00 – 19:30 UTC+5 (Pakistan, Parts of India and Russia)
16:00 – 21:30 UTC+7 (Indonesia)
17:00 – 22:30 UTC + 8 (Western Australia)
19:00 – 00:30 UTC+10 (Eastern Australia)
6:00 – 11:30 UTC-3 (Chile, Brazil, Argentina)
5:00 – 10:30 UTC-4 (Eastern US)
4:00 – 9:30 UTC-5 (Mexico, Peru)
Schedule October 1
10:30 – Welcome. Introduction
11:00 Towards Anarchosyndicalist Principles: the Genesis and Founding Congress of the IWA, December 25, 1922- January 2 1923 – Piotr Nowak, ZSP
12:00 The Development of the IWA – Laure Akai, ZSP. A history of the impact of repression and war, of divisive issues in the International and attempts to revive international anarchosyndicalism over the last 50 years.
13:30 Break
14:00 The Development of Anarchosyndicalism in the Balkans – Ratibor Trivunac, ASI
15:00 The History of Anarchosyndicalism in Austria – WAS
Oct. 2
Sessions with Online Presentations:
11:00 Approaches to Technological Progress and Industrialism in the IWA in the 1920s-1930s – Vadim Damier, KRAS (Russian with English Translation)
12:30 Russian Anarcho-Syndicaliism and the IWA, 1920-1930s – Dmitry Rublev, KRAS (Russian with English Translation)
14:00 Break
15:00 100 years of the IWA in Latin America. A revolutionary syndicalism with an ideological definition and finalist proposal. – Pedro Peumo, Solidaridad Obrera, Chile (Spanish with English Translation)

Now that the Queen is dead, it’s time we bury the monarchy

gal-dem

The queues began in the night. Starting at St Giles’ Cathedral on the Royal Mile, a line of several thousands of people snaked across Edinburgh for miles, patiently waiting for the opportunity to shuffle past a 96-year-old woman’s coffin. The city jumped into action to accommodate the royal mourners: portaloos and water stops were installed along the route, while the Salvation Army arrived to hand out hot drinks and food during the cold night. Yet, elsewhere in the city, 4,500 of Edinburgh’s homeless citizens slept rough on the streets or in temporary accommodation – a figure only expected to worsen as the UK’s cost of living crisis continues into the winter.

As we’ve seen since the Queen’s death on 8 September, the UK is actually very well equipped to handle a crisis – or whatever the state deems to be one. Public billboards and advertising spaces immediately transformed to memorialise the Queen, transport services have been magicked out of thin air to accommodate mourners, and a meticulously orchestrated operation has rolled out across the country.

Where was this leap to action at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic? Where is it now as the UK enters a cost of living crisis? Where are the hot drinks and portaloos for the people who are forced to spend every night outside? And where, exactly, are the millions of pounds that will be coughed up for the Queen’s funeral and the King’s ascension, for the parents relying on schools and a footballer to feed their children, for the pensioners riding buses to stay warm and for the 42% of us who will not be able to heat our homes by next January? The pompous display of wealth feels jarring against the worst fall in living standards for 60 years. Not only is it unnecessary, it’s deeply inappropriate.

“In modern Britain, ‘respect’ is only reserved for the wealthy – not for the most vulnerable in society”

The Queen’s death has only proven what we’ve come to know

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Belarusian anarchists given prison sentences from 5 to 17 years

Avtonom

On 6 September Minsk City Court pronounced the verdict in the criminal case of the so-called “international criminal group”. There are 14 anarchists and libertarians, four of whom have left Belarus.

The defendants were charged under 10 articles, including the articles on the establishment and participation in a criminal organization (paragraph 1 and paragraph 2 of Article 285 of the Criminal Code) and the establishment of an extremist formation (paragraphs 1 and 3 of Article 361-1 of the Criminal Code). The trial was held behind closed doors.

According to the investigation, from 2005 to 2020 unidentified persons together with anarchist Alexander Frantskevich and human rights activist Martha Rabkova united “a number of organized criminal groups”: “Revolutionary Action”, “National self-defense” and Revolucijna Dia (“Revolutionary Day”). Investigators allege that Frantskevich and Rabkova organized the arson of the Gomel District Tax Inspectorate in March 2017 using “Molotov cocktails.” Read more about the case and its defendants in Russian here.

The 10 convicts were sentenced to exactly the terms requested for them by the prosecution:

– Aleksandr Frantskevich – 17 years (strict regime)
– Akihiro Hanada-Gayevsky – 16 years (medium security)
– Marfa Rabkova: 15 years (minimum security)
– Alexei Golovko – 12 years (maximum security)
– Pavel Shpetny, Nikita Drants, Alexander Kozlyanko, Andrei Chepuk – 6 years for each (maximum security)
– Andrei Marach and Daniil Chul – 5 years each (reinforced regime)

It is also reported that the defendants were fined up to 700 basic units (about $8,900).

After the verdict was pronounced, the law enforcers detained relatives of the defendants and other political prisoners, diplomats who were not allowed into the courtroom, as well as random people who came to other trials.

Address for letters: SIZO-1, 2 Volodarskogo Street, Minsk, 220030 Belarus.

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Campaigners warn of “huge backlash” if government rewrites rules on fracking

DRILL OR DROP?

Fracking opponents have warned of a “huge backlash” if the government agrees to industry demands for new rules to make shale gas production quicker and easier.

Demonstration outside Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road shale gas site, 20 October 2018. Photo: RodHarbinson.com

Frack Free Lancashire, which opposed Cuadrilla’s operations in the county, said this evening the industry could not operate within the current regulations and now needed to “rewrite the rules”.

It also accused shale gas companies of “disrespecting” local communities and “disregarding” the environment.

The government announced last Thursday that it was lifting the moratorium on fracking in England, that has been in place since 2019.

Now the industry is repeating previous calls for ministers to go further and relax the regulations controlling fracking-induced earthquakes and change the planning system for shale gas.

Charles McAllister,

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The Struggle must be controlled from below!

THE QUEEN IS DEAD

Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group

The Queen of England (as well as of Australia, Canada and numerous other former British colonies) has died.  Mass media have suspended normal programming to talk about nothing else and their actions can best be described as competitive hagiography, not only of the Queen herself, but even of the Empire she represented.  

Behind the non-stop coverage there is a real anxiety. The death of a monarch has always been a moment of crisis, and when the dead monarch has had an exceptionally long reign the crisis is especially acute. In days when the monarch wielded political power (which is still the case in some countries), it could open windows of opportunity for struggle, and even for power to change hands (a potential which was sometimes realised). Today, under capitalism, ‘constitutional monarchies’ are nationalist spectacles for the masses, so the crisis is different. It is the end of one show and…

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