Turkey set for general strike, school boycott after Ankara Massacre

Political parties, student groups, lawyers’ organizations and others have announced their backing for a two-day general strike starting Monday to protest the 10 October Ankara Massacre.

from the Guardian;

Mourners and protesters gather in Turkish capital, blaming Erdoġan’s government for twin bomb attacks in which over 100 civilians died

Unions and professional organizations that organized the 10 October Labor, Peace and Democracy Rally in Ankara have called for a general strike on Monday and Tuesday to protest a state-instigated massacre against more than 100 people early Saturday.

see update below:

In Turkey, Scuffles Break Out as Mourners Blocked From Bomb Site

“To honor our dead friends and to protest the fascist massacre, we are in mourning for three days and on strike on 12 and 13 October,” said the organizing committee, which includes the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK), the Confederation of Public Sector Unions (KESK), the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers And Architects (TMMOB) and the Turkish Medical Association (TTB).

“To show that they will not be able to rule this country and this people with dictatorship, and to call those who murdered our friends to account, [we call on] all to stop their normal lives and join the People’s Strike,” People’s Houses (Halkevleri) Director Oya Ersoy said.

OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images Turkish riot police block Istiklal Avenue as thousands of protesters take part in a march against the deadly attack earlier in Ankara.
OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images
Turkish riot police block Istiklal Avenue as thousands of protesters take part in a march against the deadly attack earlier in Ankara.

“Let us abandon our offices, our construction sites and our workplaces to silence in the face of this massacre,” said the organization Politeknik.

“Whether in our workshops, factories or workplaces, let us support the call for a work stoppage,” said the Socialist People’s Party of the Oppressed (ESP).

“We call on students to boycott class, on tradespeople to halt their work, on drivers to turn off their engines and on all to make noise at night as they hit the streets to demand an account [for the massacre]. We must back the resistance everywhere. We must attach black ribbons to our houses, collars and cars.”

“We refuse to be accustomed to the idea that we are a country that has become synonymous with massacres,” said the Communist Party (KP) in announcing its support for the strike. “It is only the people’s determination and organizational strength that can halt the massacres committed by reactionaries and imperialists in collaboration.”

The Socialist Women’s Assemblies (SKM) also backed the labor action, noting that the murderers were well-known from recent attacks such as in Suruç and Cizre, the murder and exposure of PKK guerrilla Kevser Eltürk (Ekin Wan) and last week’s incident in which Turkish soldiers murdered amateur actor Hacı Lokman Birlik in Şırnak before dragging his body through the streets by the neck. “As oppressed women, we must step up for our martyrs together,” it said.

At universities, the Federation of Thought Clubs (FKF) backed the struggle, saying “Our pain is great, our anger is great. We are not fine, and we will not be fine” – referencing a famous social media message from LGBTİ activist Loren Elva after she was injured in an attack by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Suruç in July.

The Students’ Collective noted that there was “no other path – the palace will be destroyed.” Likewise the Labor Youth organization vowed not to step back in the face of the fascist onslaught. “We will not weaken when confronted by these massacres!”

At the same time, 11 lawyers’ organizations issued a call to bar associations, professional groups and lawyers to support the unions’ calls for a strike.

Source: Turkey set for general strike, school boycott after Ankara Massacre | Sendika.Org

10-ekim-ankara-katliami-181
photo via Sendika.Org

In Turkey, Scuffles Break Out as Mourners Blocked From Bomb Site

NBC makes propaganda for Turkey, NATO

Scuffles broke out in Turkey’s capital Sunday as police blocked mourners and politicians from laying carnations at the site of two suspected suicide bombings that killed nearly 100 people in the country’s deadliest attack in years.

The twin bombings Saturday targeted a peace rally in Ankara organized by labor unions and activists who were calling for the end of fighting between the Turkish state and Kurdish rebels, which erupted this summer after a three-year cease-fire.

Sunday, pro-Kurdish politicians planned to hold a memorial for victims in Ankara, but were held back by police, who said that they were still conducting investigations at the bombing sites.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks but Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Kurdish rebels and ISIS militants were the most likely culprits. (see the blatant lie? the Kurds would not bomb themselves, and Daesch are puppet terrorists controlled by Erdogan and NATO – rlr.)

photo via iCBC.ca
photo via iCBC.ca

Statement from Revolutionary Anarchist Action (DAF) on bombing in Ankara; also – police block ambulances, clash with survivors

twitter update:

Turkey: After the terrorist attack in , riot police of the Turkish regime attacked protesters.

see more, beneath DAF statement…

Today, bombs placed at a rally in the Turkish town of Ankara killed at least 86 people. This comes in the context of the bomb attacks in Amed in June, against an election rally; the attack on Kobanê from Turkey’s borders in June and the attack in in July in Suruç against a delegation bringing aid to Kobanê. Many comrades in Turkey and Kurdistan blame these attacks on the Turkish state.

ankara
demonstrators clear a path through the police lines to enable ambulances through. photo via reuters.

This statement has been released by Revolutionary Anarchist Action (DAF):

“CAN’T BE FORGOTTEN, CAN’T BE FORGIVEN

Today, on the 10th of October, the “Labor, Democracy and Peace Meeting” that was organized by various unions, associations and organizations has been attacked. Like in Amed on June and in Suruc in July, the bombs exploding in Ankara today has killed tens of people.

Thousands of people came together from many different cities of the geography against the politics of war, against war profiteering of different power groups.

Today, the bombs that exploded, murdered the people who wanted peace, life and freedom against war.

This explosion, in which more than 30 people have lost their lives until now, is a reflection of the blood thirsty greed of the powers. The ones who murdered in Amed, in Pirsus, in Cizir, are now trying to intimidate the peoples, frustrate with war politics and discourage from the struggle for freedom, by murdering tens of people in Ankara.

The powers should know that by any means, be it arrests or murder with bombs, we will not be afraid of the powers or submit to their war politics.

For a new world, a life of freedom, the murderers in Amed, in Pirsus, Cizir and Ankara, murdered ones CAN’T BE FORGOTTEN, the murderers CAN’T BE FORGIVEN.

Revolutionary Anarchist Action (DAF)

photo from anarkismo - http://www.anarkismo.net/
photo from anarkismo – http://www.anarkismo.net/

reposted from rabble.org.uk

IN WAKE OF TERRORIST BOMBING OF PEACE RALLY, PROTESTERS CLASH WITH POLICE, WHO WERE NOT ALLOWING AMBULANCES TO MOVE.

Protesters have clashed with police in Ankara after officers allegedly blocked a road being used by ambulances transporting victims of this morning’s bombing.

Bulent Tekdemir, who was at the rally, told the BBC that police used tear gas shortly after the explosions at 10am and “would not let ambulances through” in the aftermath.

Footage showed lines of riot officers appearing to block a road near the blast site, with ambulances parked in the background.

see more, from the independent

ANKARA TERROR ATTACK

photo via twitter user World Riots ‏@riots_world  "It was not terror that killed us, it was the state." graffiti at the site of the blast in #Ankara #Ankaradayız
photo via twitter user World Riots ‏@riots_world
“It was not terror that killed us, it was the state.” graffiti at the site of the blast in #Ankara #Ankaradayız

On Lâche Rien

On Lache Rien!(We Don’t Give Up!), is a rollicking song of revolt and determination from french band HK et Les Saltimbanks.

fortunately for us, youtube user TOKYOSPRING1created a version of the video with japanese subtitles, and has now posted the one below , with english subtitles (thanks to Maja and David).

an english translation was also posted to rabble.ca.

We Won’t Give A Fucking Inch

From the slums of my projects
To the depths of your suburbia
Oor reality ia the same
And revolt is brewing everywhere

In this world there’s no place for us
We don’t look the part
We’re not to the manor born
Not on daddy’s plastic

Homeless,Unemployed, workers
Farmers, immigrants, Undocumented
They wanted to divide us
And they succeeded

As long as it was every man for himself
Their system could prosper
But one day, inevitably, we woke up
Now. their heads have to roll

We’re Not Giving A Fucking Inch

They spoke about about equality
And like fools we believed them
“Democracy” makes me laugh
If we had had it we would have known it

What’s the worth of our votes
Up against the law of the market?
They say “my dear fellow countrymen”
But we’re fucked all the same

And what’s the worth of human rights
Up against the airbus sale?
The bottom line, there’s only one law, in sum:
“Sell yourself more to sell more.”

The republic is a whore
Walking the street of dictators
We no longer believe
Their beautiful words
Our leaders are liars

We’re Not Giving A Fucking Inch

So stupid, so trite,
To speak of peace and brotherhood
When the homeless are dying in the streets
And the undocumented are being driven out

They throw crumbs to us proles
Just shit to calm us down
So they won’t attack millionaire bosses
“Too important for our society”

It’s crazy how they’re protected
All the rich and powerful
Not to mention the help they get
For being the friends of the president

Dear comrades, dear “voters”
Dear “citizen-consumers”
The alarm has rung
It’s time
To reset to zero

As long as we’re fighting, there’s hope
As long as we’re alive, we’ll fight
As long as we’re fighting, we’re standing
Here’s the key
We’re standing, we won’t give an inch

The passion for victory runs in our blood
Now you know why we’re fighting
Our ideal, more than a dream
Another world, we have no choice

We’re Not Giving A Fucking Inch
Not a single motherfucking godamn inch

SALTIMBANKS

Hay un lugar: anarquistas en la Ciudad de México, una película de Abril Schmucler eng. subtitles.

El anarquismo es, dentro de las ideologías políticas modernas, la corriente más desconocida y calumniada. Este documental muestra qué es y qué ha hecho l anarquismo, narrado por quienes los construyen día a día, aquí a la vuelta, en la misma capital del país.

activist gone ballistik

Rapper/activist Biko from Zimbabwe, part of Soundz of the South, rapping live his original song ‘Balistick’ in the ‘Bolo’bolo: Anarchist Info Shop and Vegan Cafe, Observatory, Cape Town.

yes, do click on the link above! you’ll be glad you did. from their website;

The Soundz of the South (SOS) is a network of activists who use hip-hop and poetry to spread revolutionary messages, raise consciousness and critique neo-liberalism. The aim of the network is to facilitate and encourage a process of self-organisation against neoliberalism within communities as part of the broader struggle to emancipate us all.

SofSouth

Déclaration d’autonomie de la ZAD de NDDL en solidarité avec le Kurdistan

samedi 26 septembre 2015, par zadist

La ZAD se déclare “autonome”, tout comme l’ont fait certaines communes dans le Kurdistan nord (en Turquie) en réponse à la guerre déclarée par le gouvernement turc. Ces communes expérimentent déjà un certain degré d’auto-gestion, d’auto-gouvernance, d’autonomie donc. Face aux attaques féroces contre les populations par les forces spéciales de police et l’armée, plusieurs assemblées de quartier ont décidé de se déclarer autonomes, de refuser la légitimité de l’État et de ses forces répressives.

autoZAD

Déclaration d’autonomie de la ZAD de Nddl en réponse à l’appel du KCK (Confédération des communautés du Kurdistan)

À ceux et celles qui résistent au Kurdistan,

Nous suivons ce qui se passe actuellement en Turquie. Nous vous exprimons notre soutien face aux offensives de l’État turc.
Cette guerre en réaction à des résultats électoraux qui ne plaisent pas au président contraste avec la volonté d’un peuple de s’organiser horizontalement.

Nous avons entendu votre appel à se déclarer commune autonome, et par-delà les frontières et les montagnes, souhaitons aussi y répondre.

Nous suivons avec attention le processus du confédéralisme démocratique en cours au Kurdistan.

Nous nous sentons proches de votre recherche d’auto-organisation indépendante du projet de l’État-Nation par la mise en place de structures horizontales.

Nous admirons le processus impliquant toutes les populations sans critère religieux, ethnique, etc., alors qu’on sait que les États portent toujours des politiques d’assimilation ou d’annihilation.Nous partageons avec vous le rôle crucial du mouvement des femmes et la place du mouvement LGBTI dans la lutte.

Enfin nous respectons vos principes d’autodéfense et votre indépendance stratégique.

Nous parlons depuis la ZAD (« Zone à Défendre ») de Notre Dame des Landes, France, qui est occupée illégalement en opposition à un projet d’aménagement du territoire depuis 2009, au sein d’une lutte qui existe depuis 45 ans contre un projet d’aéroport. Nous avons repoussé des tentatives de travaux, et ensuite en 2012 résisté aux expulsions, grâce aux diverses pratiques d’autodéfense.

Aujourd’hui, plusieurs centaines de personnes venues d’horizons multiples continuent de vivre et s’organiser en autogestion de manières formelle et informelle. On tente de se réapproprier des manières de se soigner, se nourrir, se défendre face à la justice, se loger, et de communiser des savoirs, des ressources, des structures, et de partager cela avec d’autres luttes.

Ce qui se construit au Kurdistan, qui était déjà attaqué par l’État Islamique, se trouve à l’heure actuelle écrasé sous les bombes turques. L’État français, lorsqu’il cherchait des héros contre l’E.I, avait des louanges plein la bouche pour les Kurdes, et aujourd’hui il se tait honteusement face à la guerre menée par Erdogan, et continue de réprimer les militant-e-s kurdes sous couvert de lutte antiterroriste. Nous nous déclarons prêt-e-s à les accueillir!

Solidarité avec les populations du Bakûr (Kurdistan nord), et en particulier les villes assiégées!

Solidarité avec les Kurdes attaqué-e-s par les nationalistes turcs!

Solidarité avec le Rojava (Kurdistan ouest)!

reposted from the free

New Autonomous Zone Declared by ZAD NDDL in Solidarity with Kurdistan

autonomy-at-zad

You Will Learn A Few New Words In Resistance | MexicAnarchist

Juchari Uinápikua, Our Force, Our Strength.

The P’urhepecha people in Cherán rose up to defend their forests and community from cartel control and the corrupt police that partnered with organized crime. It was spearheaded by women who were tired of their sons and husbands disappearing into the void that is cartel abduction and violence.

They began by trying to protest against the cartel backed loggers on the streets, it ended with molotovs and the storming of police stations to gather assault rifles to defend themselves. There was no turning back at that point, they began to establish fogatas, something like a camp fire, in every block to keep watch and stay vigilant to any attack. This became a nightly routine, it was also in these community camp fires that they made decisions on what to do in their communities. You know it as direct democracy, they know it as decolonization. Through the process of decolonization, they also established their form of self defense, how their communities used to defend themselves in the past.

Ronda comunitaria. Communal self defense.

A literal translation wouldn’t work, so I gave you what it is in practice. I’ll explain what that practice is, and you can see it here.So a community kicks out cartel elements, and the police along with the politicians because they all knew these were all the many heads of the same hydra. Of course those they kicked out would attempt to return, angrily to be certain. Campfires on every block is good to stay vigilant, but how do you defend your community should these vile elements return? Ronda comunitaria was the traditional form of self defense, now in their modern form they used what used to be police vehicles and assault rifles that used to belong to the police. Instead of using those tools to repress, kidnap and help cartel forces like before, they used them to defend not just their community, but also their forest.

Naná Echeri, our mother earth, land.

The trucks that once belonged to corrupt police were used to patrol the forests to keep loggers out. They not only defended Naná Echeri, they also replenished her with reforestation efforts. Over 50 thousand trees were planted to help heal the damage the loggers had brought upon Naná Echeri. The people of Cherán not only defend, they also heal. Above that, they shine like a lighthouse guiding the lost ships in a violent cold sea to a vibrant Naná Echeri. Where once Tatá Jurhiata, father sun, gave his light to a land that was nothing but burned tree stumps, now nourishes the growing trees of Naná Echeri. The people of Cherán are now in direct control of not only their politics, lives and selves, but also their environment.

It is difficult to find an equivalent in so called modern societies, we claim democracy in Europe and the United States of America, but there is no self determination in either. In Cherán, an indigenous people became the Tatá Jurhiata for the rest of the world. I once thought it was just the light for Mexico, to show our people how to not only resist but flourish. It is the sun for the whole world to show you how to not just defend life, but how to nurture it so it can grow in many beautiful ways on Naná Echeri. They are now an autonomous community using traditional self governance. They’ve taught us so much. I hope the language is never lost upon you.

Juchari Uinápikuacherato

Source: You Will Learn A Few New Words In Resistance | MexicAnarchist

translating CrimethInc pamphlet results in investigation of south korean anarchists

Starting in spring, the anarchist appeal To Change Everything was adapted into Korean and distributed in paper and online in South Korea. Many welcomed it; the first printing ran out quickly.

It also provoked a strong reaction when the country’s major corporate news agency reported on it and on a project appearing on the appeal’s blog to gather and distribute songs against the National Security Law. The journalist even went to the prosecutor’s office, inquiring whether these activities constituted “aid to the enemy” (in other words, treason), which is what the National Security Law targets. The official’s response was that the answer “depends on an eventual analysis of whether this is part of an intention to threaten the national order.” In the corporate media, the numerous comments posted online with the article expressed a unanimous condemnation of these “pro-North Koreans” that we supposedly are (ignoring the “anarchist” reference), demanding even severer laws and repression. For example, “These pro-North Koreans should be sent to the good old ‘re-education camp’ to be reminded the fact that this country is still at war.”

“The Center for Citizens Action” fires a warning shot. A voluntary civil association of people with far-right politics who demonstrate dressed in the uniforms they retain from their conscription into active military service. Unlike any other civilians, these post-military fraternities have the unique right to carry weapons.
“The Center for Citizens Action” fires a warning shot. A voluntary civil association of people with far-right politics who demonstrate dressed in the uniforms they retain from their conscription into active military service. Unlike any other civilians, these post-military fraternities have the unique right to carry weapons.

This stir in the corporate media and the right-wing movement it fuels coincided with another one: a little witch-hunt following the arrest, investigation, and prosecution of someone on charges of having burned a Korean flag. On April 18, as a movement in response to the authorities’ cover-up of a ferry disaster last year converged in downtown Seoul, an exasperated youngster, provoked by journalists, picked up a paper national flag left on the ground and lit it on fire, making headlines in corporate media. Based on “CCTV and other evidence,” the police arrested him in the following days in another city. Using a warrant for search and seizure to discover his “affiliations,” the police raided his housing collective—which happens to be a center for diverse autonomous social movements including some recent anarchist activities, though the arrestee is not connected to them.

Though this kind of police repression combined with corporate and right-wing fervor is nothing new in this state of suspended civil war, this is a sign of what many feel to be a worsening political climate. Some Korean anarchists feel that we are isolated in a tightly controlled island, a prison. Nevertheless, by all means necessary, we must show that we are not so isolated.

A Call to Action

This wave of quasi-fascist nationalism provides an opportunity for inter-/anti-national solidarity actions to strategically provoke and subvert it. Here is a proposition for a simple action that, though it doesn’t entail much risk for participants outside Korea, could take advantage of that opportunity. It might even be fun.

Together, let’s defy the Korean National Security Law (국가보안법). Show solidarity with Korean people while expressing hostility to the Korean states and the order they incarnate. Through the image of “non-Koreans” attacking the symbols of the Korean state in solidarity with “Koreans,” let’s break down national divisions and the link between ethnicity and the state. Let’s take “outside agitation” to a new level.

Any format would do—but, because some images don’t need translation, accomplishing this visually by burning flags could be the simplest way. Don’t be misunderstood for a pro-North Korean (burn the northern flag too), a xenophobic nationalist (burn the flag of your own country), or an ideologue (burn an anarchist black flag if you want).

If you want to take your action to a relevant public space, don’t limit yourself to the Korean embassies. The major conglomerates Samsung, Hyundai, and LG together represent well over half of the South Korean economy, and their overseas offices can be considered places of state affairs. Korean cultural products are also understood as a spearhead of the economy because they are linked to IT products; the media pays great attention to overseas reactions to them.

As a slogan, one option is 무정부 통일 / mujeongbu tong-il, meaning “no-government” (a common translation of anarchy) + “reunification.”

Make your actions known directly or send us a report about them. You could also send us creative material such as songs, pictures, drawings, or video, to 3.1manse@riseup.net. We will compile and distribute these ourselves.

만세! (Manse)

see more on CrimethInc’s website,

Report from South Korea

May Day clashes in Seoul, 2015.
May Day clashes in Seoul, 2015.

We aren’t in a crisis of policing – we’re in the middle of a war.

“If I Die in Police Custody, Burn Everything Down!”

The militant movements of the last several years have been failures because they have only sought to generate reforms from the present system, even if they didn’t make demands. We went into the streets knowing something was wrong, but in the back of our minds we hoped those in power would listen to us and make changes.

Those in the Left groups with their newspapers claimed we lacked a vanguard party to guide us. The unions claimed we lacked representation in the workplace. The churches and mosques said we lacked moral superiority in the face of state violence. The non-profits whined we had a poor outreach strategy.

The riots, blockades, occupations, and shut-downs failed because they didn’t go far enough.

Revolutions that go half-way, dig their own grave.

“If I die in police custody, don’t let my parents talk to…Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, or any of the motherfuckers who would destroy my name.”

Being a revolutionary in the present terrain means knowing that things aren’t going to get better; that currently there are no reforms that the system can grant that will get us out of the current crisis. Those in power will continue to offer only more repression, surveillance, incarceration, and policing to quell in rebellion, while also attempting to placate to popular anger by attempting to offer cosmetic changes or “expand the dialog.”

But what would a revolutionary strategy look like? What has already taken place in the streets that can show us a way forward? In the past several years, across the world, from Oakland to Egypt, we’ve seen the proliferation of various tactics and strategies – all responding to a historical moment of crisis that defines our era.

But these tactics by themselves are just that, tactics. Blockading a freeway against white supremacy might be the start of a longer revolutionary struggle or a way to gather our forces, but simply going onto a freeway and hoping that something will materialize (or worse yet, someone will listen,) is delusional thinking. If we want to build a revolutionary force capable of destroying this system of domination, white supremacy, and exploitation, then we have to think about tactics in terms of a strategy.

Thinking about a strategy means paying attention to the situation we are in both locally where we live, but also nationally and internationally. We have to think about how the Left and those that try and control social struggles will react and try and hinder our efforts. We have to think about how the state will try and repress us for attacking the social order.

But above all, we have to think about how our actions can grow, expand, become more powerful, and ultimately link up with others across the social terrain.

The above text has been condensed into a flyer which you can download below. Use the box to fill in a link to local projects. 

Whole page. Quarter sheet.

and is part of a larger critique from it’s going down

“If I Die in Police Custody, Burn Everything Down!”

We aren’t in a crisis of policing – we’re in the middle of a war.

International Week for Anarchist Prisoners

In summer 2013 members of several ABC groups discussed the necessity of introducing an International Day for Anarchist Prisoners. Given there are already established dates for Political Prisoners Rights Day or Prison Justice Day, we found it important to emphasise the stories of our comrades as well. Many imprisoned anarchists will never be acknowledged as ‘political prisoners’ by formal human-rights organisations, because their sense of social justice is strictly limited to the capitalist laws which are designed to defend the State and prevent any real social change. At the same time, even within our individual communities, we know so little about the repression that exists in other countries, to say nothing of the names and cases involving many of our incarcerated comrades.

This is why we have decided to introduce an annual Week for Anarchist Prisoners on August 23-30. We chose August 23 as a starting point, because on that very day in 1927 the Italian-American anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in prison. They were convicted of murdering two men during an armed robbery at a shoe factory in South Braintree, Massachusetts, United States. Their arrest was a part of a bigger anti-radical campaign led by the American government. The State’s evidence against the two was almost totally non-existent and many people still today believe that they were punished for their strong anarchist beliefs.

Given the nature and diversity of anarchist groups around the globe, we have proposed a week of common action rather than a single campaign on a specific day making easier for groups to be able to organise an event within a longer target period.

Therefore, we call on everyone to spread the information about the Week for Anarchist Prisoners among other groups and communities and think about organising event(s) in your city or town. The events can vary from info-evenings, screenings and benefit concerts to solidarity and direct actions. Let your imagination run free.
Check out the flyers in different languages.

Please send reports of your activities to tillallarefree (A) riseup.net

soli-august-23

The colonies are collapsing – it's a scorched earth policy, a war of attrition, so the survivors are left with NOTHING!

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