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southern africa / the left / debate Wednesday August 06, 2014 20:58 byRed and Black Action
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OVERVIEW: There is a healthy skepticism among many activists about simple grand plans, arising partly from disastrous Marxist experiments like the Soviet Union. But the opposite — faith that struggles spontaneously reach the best outcomes if freed of theory and plans — has serious problems. Many struggles falter or are captured as old mistakes are made again. Capitalism and the state cannot be defeated by a growing wave of loosely linked alternative “spaces” and experiments. These systems are based on coercion and exploitation; their defeat requires large-scale confrontation by a coordinated bottom-up working class counter-power with clear politics. The point of resistance is to change the world: it is not an aim in itself, just a response; a politics fetishising perpetual resistance must rely on a world of oppression. Closing discussion by labeling views “dogmatic” is a recipe for imposing other positions and elites through the backdoor. There is no need to repeat the tragic errors of the past. Other revolutionary theories from working class struggles – like anarchism and syndicalism — share no blame for the failures of vanguardism and reformism, and have valuable insights on building a participatory, transformative, project of “people’s power,” and on moving from resistance to reconstruction.It is important to speak openly about theory, strategy and vision, and to engage openly with the revolutionary traditions of the popular classes, like anarchism and syndicalism, born of our past struggles, and distilled from those struggles. read full story / add a comment 
international / history of anarchism / debate Sunday May 25, 2014 06:19 byWayne Price
 1 comment (last - friday may 30, 2014 13:41) 1 image
The Marxist journal, "Platypus Review", published an article by Herb Gamberg which attacked anarchism by focusing on Bakunin. Wayne Price wrote a response and Gamberg replied, in PR. The following is Wayne's original response plus his new reply to Gamberg's latest comments. read full story / add a comment
internacional / movimento anarquista / debate Thursday April 03, 2014 22:15 byÉrrico Malatesta
"Entre os anarquistas existem os revolucionários que acreditam que é necessário abater, pela força, a força que mantém a ordem atual, para criar um ambiente no qual seja possível a evolução livre dos indivíduos e das coletividades. E existem os educacionistas que pensam que só se pode chegar à transformação social, transformando antes os indivíduos, por meio da educação e da propaganda. Existem partidários da não-violência ou da resistência passiva, que evitam a violência ainda que seja para combater a violência. E existem aqueles que admitem a necessidade da violência, os quais se dividem, por sua vez, no que diz respeito à natureza, alcance e limites da violência licita." read full story / add a comment 
southern africa / workplace struggles / debate Friday March 07, 2014 05:44 byLucien van der Walt
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Lightly edited transcript from Lucien van der Walt’s discussion at 1st National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) Political School, September 2013. From his debate with Solly Mapaila, 2nd deputy GS of the South African Communist Party (SACP) on anarcho-syndicalist versus Leninist views of the revolutionary potential of unions. A version was printed in ASR #61 2014, pp. 11-20 Captures van der Walt’s main points: the debate on the anarcho-syndicalist view that revolutionary trade unions, allied to other movements, creating a self-managed worker-controlled socialism through mass education, counter-power and workplace occupations; anarcho-syndicalism as a working class tradition; the anarcho-syndicalist view that unions can potentially be more revolutionary than political parties including Communist Parties, & be revolutionary without leadership by parties; the view that electioneering can be replaced with direct action campaigns; that the Spanish Revolution (1936-1939) shows unions taking power and making a bottom-up worker-controlled revolution; and how NUMSA’s current actions refute Marxist-Leninist theory; other problems with that theory’s traditional approach to unions; and the implications of all of this for current debates over the form of a new socialist movement in South Africa and elsewhere; and the nature of the South African ruling class and the primary social contradictions. Lucien van der Walt is co-author of “Black Flame: The revolutionary class politics of anarchism and syndicalism” (w.Michael Schmidt, 2009, AK Press) and co-editor of “Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Postcolonial World, 1870-1940” (w. Steve Hirsch and Benedict Anderson, 2010, Brill). He has a long history of involvement in the working class movements. read full story / add a comment 
international / miscellaneous / debate Thursday February 27, 2014 06:51 byNosotros Los Pobres
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Two weeks ago, Nosotros los Pobres had the good fortune to host a presentation by two members of the Federacion de Estudiantes Libertarias of Chile, with whom we had a very productive exchange of ideas. Soon after that, I saw a statement published by the FEL, commenting on the situation in Venezuela, in which they expressed sympathy for the “Venezuelan people” in their resistance against a coup d’etat. As a member of Nosotros los Pobres, I wanted to share some thoughts about Venezuela and what’s going on there, both now and for the last 15 years, and I hope they will be useful for especifista comrades as well as for concerned and informed people generally. read full story / add a comment 
north america / mexico / the left / debate Monday February 24, 2014 03:06 byWayne Price
1 comment (last - thursday march 06, 2014 09:35) 1 image
The Platypus Society is having a panel on "Marxism and Anarchism," 3/17, in Chicago. It prepared a list of questions on the topic. These are my responses to the questions, in preparation for the discussion. read full story / add a comment 
international / anarchist movement / debate Friday December 13, 2013 16:12 byLucien van der Walt
1 comment (last - saturday december 21, 2013 05:24) 1 image
Examining the theory and practice of ‘mass’ anarchism and syndicalism, this paper argues against Daryl Glaser’s views that workers’ council democracy fails basic democratic benchmarks and that, envisaged as a simple instrument of a revolution imagined in utopian ‘year zero’ terms, it will probably collapse or end in ‘Stalinist’ authoritarianism—Glaser also argues instead for parliaments, supplemented by participatory experiments. While agreeing with Glaser on the necessity of a ‘democratic minimum’ of pluralism, rights, and open-ended outcomes, I demonstrate, in contrast, that this ‘minimum’ is perfectly compatible with bottom-up council democracy and self- management, as envisaged in anarchist/syndicalist theory, and as implemented by anarchist revolutions in Manchuria, Spain and Ukraine. This approach seeks to maximise individual freedom through an egalitarian, democratic, participatory order, developed as both means and outcome of revolution; it consistently insists that attempts to ‘save’ revolutions by suspending freedoms, instead destroy both. Parliament, again in contrast to Glaser, from this perspective, meets no ‘democratic minimum’, being part of the state, a centralized, unaccountable institutional nexus essential to domination and exploitation by a ruling class of state managers and capitalists. Rather than participate in parliaments, ‘mass’ anarchism argues for popular class autonomy from, and struggle against, the existing order as a means of winning economic and political reforms while—avoiding ‘year zero’ thinking—also building the new society, within and against, the old, through a prefigurative project of revolutionary counter-power and counter-culture. Revolution here means the complete expansion of a bottom-up democracy, built through a class struggle for economic and social equality, and requiring the defeat of the ruling class, which is itself the outcome of widespread, free acceptance of anarchism, and of a pluralistic council democracy and self-management system. read full story / add a comment
international / anarchist movement / debate Thursday December 12, 2013 19:18 byLucien van der Walt
Examining the theory and practice of ‘mass’ anarchism and syndicalism, this paper argues against Daryl Glaser’s views that workers’ council democracy fails basic democratic benchmarks and that, envisaged as a simple instrument of a revolution imagined in utopian ‘year zero’ terms, it will probably collapse or end in ‘Stalinist’ authoritarianism—Glaser also argues instead for parliaments, supplemented by participatory experiments. While agreeing with Glaser on the necessity of a ‘democratic minimum’ of pluralism, rights, and open-ended outcomes, I demonstrate, in contrast, that this ‘minimum’ is perfectly compatible with bottom-up council democracy and self-management, as envisaged in anarchist/syndicalist theory, and as implemented by anarchist revolutions in Manchuria, Spain and Ukraine. This approach seeks to maximise individual freedom through an egalitarian, democratic, participatory order, developed as both means and outcome of revolution; it consistently insists that attempts to ‘save’ revolutions by suspending freedoms, instead destroy both. Parliament, again in contrast to Glaser, from this perspective, meets no ‘democratic minimum’, being part of the state, a centralized, unaccountable institutional nexus essential to domination and exploitation by a ruling class of state managers and capitalists. Rather than participate in parliaments, ‘mass’ anarchism argues for popular class autonomy from, and struggle against, the existing order as a means of winning economic and political reforms while—avoiding ‘year zero’ thinking—also building the new society, within and against, the old, through a prefigurative project of revolutionary counter-power and counter-culture. Revolution here means the complete expansion of a bottom-up democracy, built through a class struggle for economic and social equality, and requiring the defeat of the ruling class, which is itself the outcome of widespread, free acceptance of anarchism, and of a pluralistic council democracy and self-management system. read full story / add a comment 
bolivia / peru / ecuador / chile / anarchist movement / debate Thursday October 17, 2013 20:42 byC.A.L.
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Until a few months ago we had a libertarian movement in which different ideological expressions of the popular movement came together, but with certain shared elements such as recognition of the need to build organizations from the bottom, outside the State, promoting at all times internal democracy and the leading role of those directly involved, with the clarity on a strategic level that the task was to build popular power with class autonomy and encourage direct action as the main political tool for social transformation. However, the appearance of the Red Libertaria as part of the Todxs a La Moneda movement which supports the presidential candidacy of Marcel Claude and the recent sign from the Frente de Estudiantes Libertarios rejecting this initiative have only served to initiate a split within the libertarians, where it seems that reformist and authoritarian positions have achieved hegemony over part of the militants, and to which anarchists have only stood on as passive spectators. [Castellano] read full story / add a comment 
mashrek / arabia / irak / imperialismo / guerra / dibattito Wednesday September 25, 2013 16:29 byShiar
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Sono rimasto felicissimo nel vedere, finalmente, come un gruppo anarchico nel Nord del mondo faccia un tentativo serio di capire quello che succede in Siria ed esprima chiaramente la sua posizione sulla rivoluzione siriana. Mi piace molto e sono d'accordo per la maggior parte con quanto espresso nella parte finale intitolata "La nostra posizione", ma ho parecchi problemi con le parti precedenti di introduzione e di sfondo. Ecco quindi alcuni miei commenti nello spirito del vostro invito che auspica "opinioni di altri, in particolare di coloro che hanno più esperienza nell'area e specialmente da anarchici che vivono nella regione", nella speranza che possano contribuire ad un dibattito più informato tra gli anarchici e ad una comprensione, una presa posizione e un'azione migliori per quanto riguarda la Siria. [English] read full story / add a comment 
international / history of anarchism / debate Saturday August 31, 2013 05:49 byLucien van der Walt
3 comments (last - sunday december 15, 2013 04:57) 1 image
This article defends the argument that anarchism/syndicalism emerged in the 1860s, as a libertarian form of socialism, opposed to social and economic hierarchy/inequality, favouring international class struggle and revolution, from below, for a self-managed, socialist, stateless order; it defends the necessity using a truly global history and analysis, placing the colonial and postcolonial world, and a wide range of mass movements, centre-stage, in order to grasp the "canon" of texts/thinkers/theories that must be ‘regarded as authoritative for anarchist thought and practice or especially significant in the historical development of anarchism’. It rejects claims that anarchism is a timeless "orientation" existing outside of contexts and classes, and demonstrates the methodological and analytical problems that arise from such approaches, including tautology, assertion and selective use of evidence. read full story / add a comment 
argentina/uruguay/paraguay / historia del anarquismo / debate Saturday August 31, 2013 04:39 byOleguer Vall Font
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Uno de los debates más polémicos en el seno del movimiento anarquista, al menos en Iberia, es su relación con los llamados “nacionalismos de resistencia” (en un país de la periferia del sistema mundo podríamos llamarlos “nacionalismos populares”). A través de un escueto análisis de una de las organizaciones anarquistas más influyentes en la Latinoamérica de la segunda mitad del siglo XX se verá que para el caso del Uruguay, país tan lejano geográficamente como cercano culturalmente, el anarquismo adoptó ciertos símbolos del nacionalismo popular a partir de los sesenta. Lo interesante del asunto es que este hecho no tuvo la consecuencia de la asunción de toda la estructura simbólica “nacional y popular” sino que se podría decir que la Federación Anarquista Uruguaya tomó exclusivamente aquellos aspectos que podían ser útiles a su proyecto revolucionario. Este hecho considero que introduce una nueva línea de debate en tanto que supone defender la incorporación algo descontextualizada de algunos elementos del “nacionalismo de resistencia” sin caer en la asunción de todos sus aspectos pero tampoco en rechazarlos todos a priori. Este primer número es entonces un acercamiento a la complejidad ideológica de una organización que hizo historia y teoría en un tiempo convulso y de cuyo legado es, cuanto menos, útil aprender. Salud y Anarquia read full story / add a comment 
international / miscellaneous / debate Friday May 31, 2013 20:19 byMichael Schmidt
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The Arab Spring redrew the battle-lines between over the control of information between the statist/capitalist elites and the popular classes – raising questions of increased restriction and surveillance, and of the limits of cyber-activism. In some ways this battle is often mischaracterised as being a narrow debate between cool intellectual property technocrats and wild-eyed free-use pirates, or as being a political dispute between authoritarian regimes and free speech activists, with no wider relevance to society. But it is clear that what is at stake is the global ideology (and exploitative practice) of corporatist enclosure versus that of the creative commons; in other words, it is more even than a universalist human rights concern, but is rather an asymmetrical war between the parasitic and productive classes over a terrain of power/wealth-generation known as the knowledge economy. read full story / add a comment 
rússia / ucrânia / bielorússia / história do anarquismo / debate Thursday March 28, 2013 23:31 byNestor Makhno
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Como qualquer anarquista, rechaço a autoridade em geral, sou um adversário de toda a organização baseada no centralismo, não reconheço nem o Estado nem seu aparato legislativo, sou um inimigo convencido da democracia burguesia e do parlamentarismo – considerando esta forma social um obstáculo para a liberação dos trabalhadores – em outras palavras, me levanto contra qualquer regime baseado na exploração dos trabalhadores. read full story / add a comment 
internacional / la izquierda / debate Monday March 18, 2013 11:55 byJosé Francisco Magón
27 comments (last - friday march 29, 2013 15:04) 1 image
Uno de los grandes temas contingentes en las últimas semanas en el imaginario de la izquierda a nivel nacional, regional e internacional ha sido la muerte de Hugo Chavez. Evidentemente un personaje carismático y bastante excéntrico – líder de la llamada “revolución bolivariana”- que encabezó un proceso social, muy complejo, que contiene hasta ahora una gama de aciertos, contradicciones y limitaciones. Las diferentes tendencias políticas han dado condolencias, han planteado sus opiniones a favor del proceso o se han posicionado de alguna forma sobre este hecho y el proceso detrás. Los libertarios no se han excluido de este proceso de discusión y un conjunto de puntos de vista se ventilan en los diferentes medios no exentos de polémica. read full story / add a comment 
américa del norte / méxico / la izquierda / debate Wednesday December 26, 2012 23:36 byIzquierda Revolucionaria Internacionalista
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Respuesta de la Asamblea de la Facultad de Filosofia y Letras de la UNAM al historiador Adolfo Gilly con respecto al articulo aparecido en http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/12/05/politica/014a1pol read full story / add a comment 
brazil/guyana/suriname/fguiana / a esquerda / debate Monday November 19, 2012 19:35 byRafael V. da Silva
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Este texto é uma versão adaptada do artigo Praxis Anarquista: Teoria, Alienação e Autonomia, publicado no site Passapalavra e que fora ligeiramente modificado, revisado e corrigido. Para facilitar a leitura, separamos as duas partes do artigo. Essa separação foi realizada sob a compreensão de que as duas partes do texto podem ser lidas de maneira independente sem prejúizo para o entendimento de seus argumentos. read full story / add a comment
italia / svizzera / lotte sindacali / dibattito Tuesday November 13, 2012 18:11 byGino Caraffi
L'articolo apparso su Umanità Nova sulla vicenda FIAT a Pomigliano contiene tali carenze nella descrizione dei fatti accaduti nella vicenda FIAT/FIOM, da non riuscire a distinguersi da qualsiasi altro pezzo sullo stesso argomento uscito su un qualsiasi giornale borghese. read full story / add a comment
international / anarchist movement / debate Monday October 15, 2012 08:55 byIlan S.
8 comments (last - tuesday october 16, 2012 19:08)
The term "reverse engineering", used in computer programming, differs from the old strategies used in the past to start with a problem and try to find a solution to it as it starts with characterizing the goal and then working backwards to try to find the way to it. read full story / add a comment 
brazil/guyana/suriname/fguiana / movimento anarquista / debate Tuesday September 25, 2012 15:53 byNúcleo Pró-OASL, Marília-SP
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A formação ocorrida entre os dias 21 e 23 de Setembro de 2012 teve como finalidade à aproximação da organização de Marília com a OASL e, a partir disso, foram apresentadas concepções e análises de determinados períodos e conjunturas significativas com relação ao movimento anarquista. read full story / add a comment |
 Front pageThe experiment of West Kurdistan (Syrian Kurdistan) has proved that people can make changes [Chile] EL FTEM promueve una serie de “jornadas de debate sindical” Ukraine: Interview with a Donetsk anarchist Prisões e mais criminalização marcam o final da Copa do Mundo no Brasil هەڵوێستی سەربەخۆی جەماوەر لە نێوان داعش و & Contra a Copa e a Repressão: Somente a Luta e Organização! Nota Pública de soldariedade e denúncia Uruguay, ante la represión y el abuso policial To vote or not to vote: Should it be a question? Mayday: Building A New Workers Movement Anarchist and international solidarity against Russian State repression Argentina: Atentado y Amenazas contra militantes sociales de la FOB en Rosario, Santa Fe Réponses anarchistes à la crise écologique A verdadeira face da violência! Face à l’antisémitisme, pour l’autodéfense Reflexiones en torno a los libertarios en Chile y la participación electoral Mandela, the ANC and the 1994 Breakthrough: Anarchist / syndicalist reflections Melissa Sepúlveda "Uno de los desafíos más importantes es mostrarnos como una alternativa real" Fri 05 Sep, 22:30
Comrade Lawrence was born on 7 July 1969 in Kliptown before moving to Ceza in KwaZulu-Natal. He attended Ceza Primary and Nghunghunyone Secondary, matriculating in 1986 with exemption (excellent at that time).
Para ello proponemos la realización en marzo de 2015 en la región dominicana del primer encuentro constitutivo de la F.A.C.-C. [Centroamérica] (nombre provisional) de individualidades y “delegados” de colectivos ácratas en la región, que sea el punto de cierre inicial para confrontarse y coordinar acciones, ideas e insumos, a partir de los ejes temáticos que emerjan de los colectivos en cada localidad. [English]
For all this we propose a constitutive meeting of the F.A.C.-C [-Central American] (Caribbean and Central American Anarchist Federation) in the Dominican Republic in March of 2015. We call individuals and “delegates” of anarchist collectives in the region to join us in this meeting that will be an initial decisive moment to compare and coordinate actions, ideas and supplies based on the topics/themes that would emerge from each collective according to their location. [Castellano] Alla società civile nazionale ed internazionale, To National and International Civil Society, A la Sociedad Civil Nacional e Internacional, A la Société Civile Nationale et Internationale,
La guerra di Israele su Gaza intendeva indebolire Hamas ma renderlo indipendente dall'Autorità in Cisgiordania. Un mese e mezzo è passato ed Israele non riesce a fermare il lancio di razzi di Hamas su Israele. Hamas ha chiesto ad alta voce la rimozione dell'assedio ed il primo ministro israeliano non ha avuto l'appoggio necessario dalla sua coalizione per il necessario compromesso. Per diminuire le perdite e per salvare la faccia Israele con il sostegno degli USA stanno ora delegando la questione a quel Consiglio di Sicurezza dell'ONU di cui Israele non si è curato per molti anni. [English]
The war Israel started with the Hamas was intended to keep it weaker but independent of the west bank authority. A month and a half and Israel cannot stop the Hamas firing of rockets on Israel. The Hamas raised its demand about the lifting of the siege (closer) and the Israeli prime minister failed go get the support of his coalition for the needed compromise. To diminish the losses and to save face Israel with US backing are passing the decision to the UN security council the Israeli ruling elite evaded successfully so many years. The mounting economic pressures create cracks in the Israeli ruling elite and even the populist coalition party head - the foreign minister, start to promote the end of the 1967 occupation. And the joint popular grass root struggle continue - within Israel at the Arkib Bedouins as focus, Bil'in, Ma'asara, Neby Saleh, Ni'ilin, Qaddum, Sheikh Jarrah, South Hebron Hills. [Italiano] This is as complete a story about what happened to 'Migrant X' that we are aware of. Migrant X is a young migrant women who it emerged was refused an abortion by the Irish state despite apparently meeting the grounds of the X-case legislation and instead forced to carry the pregnancy and agree to a C-section. The pregnanacy itself was the result of rape, Migrant X attempted suicide after being refused the abortion and later went on a hunger and thirst strike. Once what had happened to her became known there were sizeable pro-choice solidarity demonstrations called across Ireland and at Irish embassies overseas. We have been given information that the migrant woman at the centre of the current forced pregnancy was 'committed' to a psychiatric hospital following her initial request for termination. It’s already known that the initial request was made when she was 8 weeks pregnant. It was this crucial period in which she was being held incommunicado which led directly to the Caesarian option being possible to impose as an ‘alternative’ to allowing her to access the abortion she had asked for. more >>
Residents in Khutsong location were neglected by the police many times, and that is why they ended up taking the law into their own hands in late 2013.
The United Front tactic – aimed at uniting masses of workers in action and winning Communist leadership for the working class – was adopted as policy by the Communist International (Comintern) in 1921 and will be discussed later in this series. However, there are important examples of working class unity in action which predate Comintern policy and bear relevance to the united fronts discussion. One often-cited example is the united front to defend the gains of the February Revolution from a military coup in Russia in 1917, which will be discussed in the next article in this series.
The resolution adopted by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) to form a ‘United Front against neoliberalism’ – as well as its decision not to endorse the ANC in the elections – represents an interesting development in the political landscape, one which activists should look at carefully and engage.
Ciò che leggerete di seguito è l'esperienza della mia visita di un paio di settimane nel maggio di quest'anno, 2014, nel Nord Est della Siria o Kurdistan siriano (Ovest del Kurdistan) con un mio caro amico. Durante la visita abbiamo avuto piena libertà e l'opportunità di vedere e di parlare con chiunque. Incluse donne, uomini, giovani e partiti politici. Ci sono più di 20 partiti dai curdi ai cristiani, alcuni sono nell'Auto Amministrazione Democratica (DSA) o Autogestione Democratica (DSM) della regione di Al-Jazera. Al-Jazera è una delle tre regioni (cantoni) del Kurdistan dell'Ovest. Abbiamo incontrato anche i partiti politici curdi e cristiani che non fanno parte della DSA o della DSM. Inoltre abbiamo incontrato i vertici della DSM, membri di diversi comitati, gruppi locali e comuni così come uomini d'affari, negozianti, lavoratori, persone al mercato e gente che semplicemente camminava per strada. [English]
Transcripción de una columna de opinión originalmente transmitida por Contagio Radio, http://bit.ly/1qxooWP more >>
Comrade Lawrence was born on 7 July 1969 in Kliptown before moving to Ceza in KwaZulu-Natal. He attended Ceza Primary and Nghunghunyone Secondary, matriculating in 1986 with exemption (excellent at that time).
Para ello proponemos la realización en marzo de 2015 en la región dominicana del primer encuentro constitutivo de la F.A.C.-C. [Centroamérica] (nombre provisional) de individualidades y “delegados” de colectivos ácratas en la región, que sea el punto de cierre inicial para confrontarse y coordinar acciones, ideas e insumos, a partir de los ejes temáticos que emerjan de los colectivos en cada localidad. [English]
For all this we propose a constitutive meeting of the F.A.C.-C [-Central American] (Caribbean and Central American Anarchist Federation) in the Dominican Republic in March of 2015. We call individuals and “delegates” of anarchist collectives in the region to join us in this meeting that will be an initial decisive moment to compare and coordinate actions, ideas and supplies based on the topics/themes that would emerge from each collective according to their location. [Castellano]
Alla società civile nazionale ed internazionale,
To National and International Civil Society, |
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