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Recent articles by Various anarchist organizations
Il sindacalismo rivendicativo: dalla Spagna al Sud Africa al mondo del... Jul 25 14 Reclaiming Syndicalism: From Spain to South Africa to Global Labour To... Jul 04 14 Primero de Mayo: Construcción de un Nuevo Movimiento de Trabajadores/a... May 03 14 Mayday: Building A New Workers Movement![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() International anarchist statement
For far too long major segments of the working class have been dormant under the illusion that change can be delegated to exterior organizations or parties. When our struggles are bureaucratized and delegated to others, we lose ownership over them and in turn lose many benefits gained through them. A victory for the working class can only be established if our class is active in the struggle leading to victory.From the battle for the 8 hour day, to the struggles witnessed this past year, these examples cry out for the need to organize the fight back against the war that is being waged on workers at home and abroad. Through these examples we can begin to see an alternate future and experiment towards it. This new workers' movement must be established on class struggle lines, a movement that no longer waits for politicians and bureaucrats to resolve the growing inequalities and oppressions. A movement of workers organized through our own self-activity for democratic, combative and autonomous labor and community organizations must replace the stale forms of unionism and social democratic lobbyism that have dominated and compromised most struggles of the last decades.[Italiano] [Castellano]See also:
Mayday: Building A New Workers MovementA short history of May DayThe first of May is the day we remember the Chicago Haymarket Martyrs. 127 years ago these Chicago anarchists, who were influential organizers, speakers & editors in the Chicago labor movement, helped lead the battle of the day, not only for the 8 Hour Day, but also for social emancipation from all forms of oppression.The origins of May Day go back to May 4, 1886 which marks the Haymarket Massacre. This memorable day began as a rally of striking workers who demanded the eight-hour work day, climaxing with a bomb produced by an unknown individual while the police dispersed the peaceful rally. The blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians; scores of others were wounded. Eight anarchists were convicted of conspiracy during the legal proceedings that followed. Although the evidence was scarce, and could not prove that any of the eight defendants had thrown the explosive device, seven were sentenced to death and one to 15 years in prison. The death sentences of two of the defendants were commuted to life in prison, and another committed suicide before his hanging. The other four were hanged on November 11, 1887. In 1893, Illinois' new governor pardoned the remaining defendants and criticized the evidence that was used during trial. Since this day, we honor all those who have fought, sacrificed, and died for the defense and advancement of the working class. Not only the Haymarket Martyrs, but also the many who have followed in their wake. Present conditionsThrough blood, sweet sweat, tears and bitter struggle, the working class has continued to fight and has since managed to wrestle much from the capitalist class and the state. Despite these collective efforts, our small, yet hard-fought-for gains are under continued attack. Worsening working conditions, increasingly precarious and low wage work, deindustrialization and marginalization have become the new normal. Governments, under pretext of crisis, have imposed round after round of social austerity measures, where workers and families have been expected to swallow cuts to public funding of services so that the richest can continue to profit from the fruits of our labor.From the rise of xenophobia through the Partie Québecoise’s charter of values in Québec, the recent gains made by the Front National in France, Golden Dawn in Greece to the rise of fascism in Ukraine, it is no surprise that in these times of crisis, when the very foundations of capitalism are being challenged, right wing elements emerge to mystify, confuse and divide. To further add to the desperation and confusion, the state and capitalists pit workers against workers in their renewed imperialist wars abroad in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, while irresponsible resource extraction and environmental devastation continue unabated. Today's struggles - tomorrow's strugglesThough we see the continued advancement of global capitalism and its fascist allies, day to day, workers find sources of encouragement through the multiple examples we have witnessed this past year. Across North America, we are seeing students and workers experimenting with combative organizing and militancy. The indigenous people of North America are engaged in multiple battles and are taking a stand against capitalist developments on their lands. The undocumented in the US are taking militant direct actions to halt deportations and raids. Communities have successfully boycotted corporate imposed testing in Seattle. Through solidarity networks and worker centers, workers in multiples cities are taking a stand and fighting back against rampant wage theft.On the international level, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, we are seeing workers that are traditionally divided by sectarian violence, come together as a class to fight against austerity and corruption using direct democracy and combative tactics to rally all segments of the working class against its enemies. All over Europe, we are witnessing antifascism confront the growing wave of hatred in the streets. In recent days, workers are participating in the biggest general strike in Chinese history. Spain, France, Greece, and scores of other European countries have been shaken by anti-austerity protests. Poverty wage workers in the garment sectors are striking and confronting suppression to make massive wage jumps in Bangladesh. The need for a new workers' movementFor far too long major segments of the working class have been dormant under the illusion that change can be delegated to exterior organizations or parties. When our struggles are bureaucratized and delegated to others, we lose ownership over them and in turn lose many benefits gained through them. A victory for the working class can only be established if our class is active in the struggle leading to victory.From the battle for the 8 hour day, to the struggles witnessed this past year, these examples cry out for the need to organize the fight back against the war that is being waged on workers at home and abroad. Through these examples we can begin to see an alternate future and experiment towards it. This new workers' movement must be established on class struggle lines, a movement that no longer waits for politicians and bureaucrats to resolve the growing inequalities and oppressions. A movement of workers organized through our own self-activity for democratic, combative and autonomous labor and community organizations must replace the stale forms of unionism and social democratic lobbyism that have dominated and compromised most struggles of the last decades. This new workers’ movement should be allied with supportive movements, such as those against cuts to social services and education, those that seek to protect our environment, and those movements against all forms of oppression and inequality. We see the interconnectedness of various forms of oppression as we wage these struggles, along with the fights against the expansion and brutality of police forces and prisons, the criminalization of the poor and undocumented, and the continued attacks on reproductive freedoms. Struggles against oppression cannot succeed without the power of the working class and the struggle of the working class cannot succeed without the recognition that an injury to one is an injury to all and without purging our class of all reactionary ideas and practices. Despite how small or embryonic they may seem, the struggles of the past year have demonstrated that working class victory is achieved from struggles owned and controlled by the workers themselves, not due to social democratic parties or lobbyism established from above but social movements from below that are built through their own self-activity and self-management. A new world to build togetherAs anarchists we seek to wage the battle of ideas and experiment with new forms of struggle. We must also strive to be involved in combative, democratic and autonomous mass workers' movements, and where these movements don’t exist, we must set about organizing them.By engaging in these struggles, we gain the necessary experience, initiate needed debates, and confront the current austerity agenda of the elite outside of current labor and civil laws. Through theses struggles, we establish and build the much-needed strength to defend our class today while building the foundations of tomorrow. Through struggle, we can as a class, start to imagine and organize for a classless society, building a society without power, profit, and privilege, in which working people in workplaces and communities make the decisions about how our work is done and what we want from it. This May Day, just like every other, is a call for workers to organize against the everyday exploitation of capitalism. In the spirit of those who fought for the eight hour day, let us continue the fight for the advancement and amelioration of our class’s conditions while planning and building for the final fight.
1 May 2014 Prairie Struggle Organization (Canada)
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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? 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" Declaración del FAO ante la coyuntura electoral chilena y el quiebre en el movimiento libertario International | Workplace struggles | en Sat 06 Sep, 01:40 The Confederación General del Trabajo (Spain), the Union Syndicale Solidaires (France) and the Central Sindical e Popular Conlutas (Brazil) have extended an international invitation to all organizations that consider themselves part of the combative trade union movement and see the need for social transformation to an international trade union meeting to be held in Paris from 22 to 24 March in order to work towards the coordination of alternative trade-unionism on an international level. [Castellano] http://linchpin.ca/English/Occupy-London-Ontario-Callou...t-Boc A Union drive in computer giant Apple retail is breaking new ground. Apple showroom employee Cory Moll who works in an Apple computer store in San Francisco has started a drive to unionise retail workers in a rare move at the company. Leaflet of Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG) distributed at todays May Day rally and events in Melbourne. On May Day, we put forward our alternative. It is libertarian communism, a society without governments or bosses. A society of peace and freedom, of justice and equality. We can build a new world. It is the only way out of the irrational, unjust and unsustainable one we live in today. [中文] [Ελληνικά] [العربية] [Castellano]
ISTANBUL: Coordination of Resistance Days Against IMF/WB 1-8 October 2009
Organise! and the WSM Belfast branch picketed Starbucks in Belfast city centre today from 12 to 1 pm. Despite the miserable weather around 12 people joined the picket and leafleted passers by and potential customers outside the coffee shop. At the start of the picket 3 people had gone inside to leaflet customers and staff. There was a very positive response to the picket however one person was falsely accused of assaulting a Starbuck's member of staff after leafleting staff and customers inside.
Turkish National Shipyard Workers go on strike on 16th of June to stop workplace deaths in Tuzla, near Istanbul in Turkey. [ Ελληνικά]
On 18 October 2007, the European Council met in Lisbon and adopted the new Treaty of the Union, a mini-Treaty of what was once the European Constitution Project and a reform of the current EU Treaty drawn up in Nice 2000. At the same time, the president of the European Commissionsion and the President of the Council at the time, announced the signing of a principle of agreement on flexicurity in the EU, between the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and European employers.
van der Walt, Lucien (2014) “Reclaiming Syndicalism: From Spain to South Africa to Global Labour Today,” Global Labour Journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 239-252.
Some on the Left argue that wage struggles are inherently reformist. The reality is that they can be either reformist or democratic (the latter as an embedded element of an overall revolutionary struggle). A thin line divides the two. The difference is that the reformist will be satisfied with reforms and stop there, while an autonomous democratic movement that has the potential to contribute to revolution will keep demanding more and more, continuing to weaken (not mechanically) capital and finally challenge its existence.
Ever had the feeling that your job might be made up? That the world would keep on turning if you weren’t doing that thing you do 9-5? David Graeber* explored the phenomenon of bullshit jobs for our recent summer issue – everyone who’s employed should read carefully…
Since the birth of the organised labour movement there have been intermittent claims that some alteration in the conditions of workers had rendered class struggle irrelevant or who suggested that class stratification meant that different workers had different interests and thus could not take united action. This was apparent in the struggle between craft unionism and syndicalism in the days of Connolly and Larkin, or the mantra that “the class struggle is over” in more recent times.
Workers’ co-operatives have always been championed by sections of the left and wider labour movement - from their advocacy by 19th century Welsh social reformer and utopian socialist Robert Owens to Proudhon through to their existence in various state capitalist countries today such as Cuba. While workers’ co-operatives can provide a small example of anarchist ideas based on self-management, direct democracy and mutual aid in action, we should not be blinded by their contradictions and should query their effectiveness as a strategy for real revolutionary transformation. [Italiano] more >>
The Confederación General del Trabajo (Spain), the Union Syndicale Solidaires (France) and the Central Sindical e Popular Conlutas (Brazil) have extended an international invitation to all organizations that consider themselves part of the combative trade union movement and see the need for social transformation to an international trade union meeting to be held in Paris from 22 to 24 March in order to work towards the coordination of alternative trade-unionism on an international level. [Castellano]
http://linchpin.ca/English/Occupy-London-Ontario-Callou...t-Boc
Leaflet of Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG) distributed at todays May Day rally and events in Melbourne.
On May Day, we put forward our alternative. It is libertarian communism, a society without governments or bosses. A society of peace and freedom, of justice and equality. We can build a new world. It is the only way out of the irrational, unjust and unsustainable one we live in today. [中文] [Ελληνικά] [العربية] [Castellano]
On 18 October 2007, the European Council met in Lisbon and adopted the new Treaty of the Union, a mini-Treaty of what was once the European Constitution Project and a reform of the current EU Treaty drawn up in Nice 2000. At the same time, the president of the European Commissionsion and the President of the Council at the time, announced the signing of a principle of agreement on flexicurity in the EU, between the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and European employers. more >> |