Yesterday (30-9-2017) a manifestation took place in Amsterdam in solidarity with comrades who are momentarily in prison after the G20 protests in Hamburg (Germany) this July. After the manifestation a spontaneous demonstration started through the inner city of Amsterdam.
100 people took part in the manifestation in solidarity with G20 prisoners. There were speeches and music acts. After the manifestation about 50 people walked an unannounced demonstration through the centre of Amsterdam to Spuiplein.
Freedom for all G20 prisoners! Freedom for Peike!
(via Autonomen Den Haag)
Report of the conference of Contagio Antispecista at the festival Festa Antispecista (Milan – Italy, September 16, 2017)
The text that follows is the content (completed with some pictures) of the speech given by Contagio Antispecista on the 16th of September in the context of the debate Michela Vittoria Brambilla and the commodification of veganism, which took place during the gathering Festa Antispecista at the independent center for art, culture and research Macao, in Milan.
Maybe you have heard of the cease-and-desist letter, that reached the organization of the festival and the speakers of the debate, from the lawyer of the Member of Italian Parliament Brambilla, a measure which speaks for itself proving the intimidating and censoring tendency that is in every atom of our life.
We leave you with the contents of a meeting which has registered a great participation of the public.
Contagio Antispecista is not meant to be a group or a collective, it’s a platform to share and analyze information with the purpose to clarify what antispeciesism should be during a moment in history in which it is deprived of its original aspirations because and due to the fault (a direct and conscious fault) of, as it was mentioned by the previous speakers, politically indifferent derivations, infiltrations by fascists, and of the mass action of the commodification carried out by capitalism and its supporters.
This is also the reason why we are two and we introduce ourselves as spokespeople instead of speakers.
This entity doesn’t have to be identified with the individual, but with a collective work which could lead the ones who support and carry out radical antispeciesism to a wider perspective of a convergence of shared struggles.
One of the many reasons which contributed to the birth of this entity was the definition (that each one of us has) of antispeciesism.
When we talk about politically indifferent derivations (before even talking about infiltrations by fascists) there isn’t a hasty or summary judgment, but a deep critique on the perspective itself of the etymology of the words.
As we all know the term “qualunquista” (translated “politically indifferent”) has always had a negative meaning, it’s not up to us, in this context, giving this kind of labels, but the connotation of antispeciesism has taken on different meanings and especially various paths to approach it.
Contagio arises exactly from this fact and particularly from the question, not from a question, but from the question: how could it have happened that a term which is so basic and simple in its understanding has undergone a constant disintegration?
We realized that the possibility of the term (intended as a concrete fight) to be attacked arose from an apparently innocent dysfunction (apparently innocent, so we prefer calling it “division”) which took place in the 80’s that is the difference between ABOLITIONISM and LIBERATIONISM.
As any liberation struggle of the past that has raised up crowds and contradictions at the beginning, also in the antispeciesist fight there was a moment when unconsciously we opened the doors to a direct and indirect collaboration with the same tools that caused oppression.
Nowadays even in radical antispeciesism it’s hard to understand this initial anomaly.
The antispeciesist fight, in order to be credible, should necessarily be unattackable and therefore lasting, and it should have a unique and clear meaning for everyone, that’s why we talk about liberationist antispeciesism and therefore about total liberation, up to arrive at one only proposition: animal liberation which encloses within itself non-human and human animals, and the context in which they live, the Earth.
All the aspects that led to a deviation of antispeciesism, for yesterday as for today, originated from that initial alteration: ABOLITIONISM antispeciesism (with all its aberrant consequences, a weak and reductionist approach to antispeciesism).
The pioneers of the ABOLITIONIST orientation were international associations like WWF and PETA, but in the last years the ABOLITIONIST orientation has found promoters and advocates in that kind of approaches similar to Leonardo Caffo’s one, and from a part of animal-rights associations like: Essere Animali, Animal Equality and Sea Shepherd which, in addition to selling off veganism as a “challenge”(through initiatives as “12 steps to veganism” or “the vegan week”) and supporting the homogenization of veganism by the industry in the wake of “for animals anything goes”, “animals are not interested in politics” and least but not last “we are their voice” and “oceans first of all”, they set up collaborations with personalities (both those involved in politics and not) who are tied to and linked to institutions, and bodies of power, in fact delegitimizing the radical, clean, pure and libertarian aspect of the antispeciesist fight, of Barry Horne’s memory.
Barry Horne
These manners cause inconsistency and contradictions (which, from a libertarian perspective, are irreconcilable at this point), making the animal liberation fight “attackable” from outside, by those who sensed a mere business in the wake of a standardization in which veganism is not a political act anymore, but just the fashion of the moment or a stale farce.
Here a short parenthesis: when we talk about a political act we mean the genesis of the term political that pushed by a redemption of fight goes beyond and grows totally apart from what today is identified as political, that is party.
Opening up hence, as we all noted in the last years, to a massive presence of both politicians and parties searching for approval and easy electoral springboards (through the exploitation of the fight), and also to the increasing foundation and spread of animal-rights groups of clear xenophobic, intolerant and reactionary origin, which allowed the consolidation of fascist entities, and so a total and massive flattening of the fight: Fronte Animalista, Iene Vegane, Foresta Che Avanza, are just some examples.
Politically indifferent derivations and selling off of the ideals of liberation that find their sublimation in those commercial expressions that are intended to reduce veganism to a trademark, facilitating its incorporation and commodification by capitalism.
Derivations which always see the presence of right wing politicians as in the case of the mutual support and visibility between VEGANOK (trademark) and the omnipresent Member of Italian Parliament Brambilla.
This collaboration was renewed during the last edition of SANA (international exhibition of organic and natural products and personal showcase for Sauro Martella & Co.), who however don’t give up riding two horses considering the space for conferences given also to representatives of Movimento 5 Stelle and the presence of many stands certified by VEGANOK at the Festa de l’Unità (social-democratic celebration organized by left wing parties) in Bologna, during the same period.
To confirm and reinforce the close collaboration between ambiguous certifications committed to capital and xenophobic and fascist groups, there is the close link (in Italy) between VEGANOK and Sea Shepherd, with mutual support that increases their visibility, ridiculing those who conduct real battles for the defense of the ecosystems in general, considering also the conferences held by Paul Watson’s association about microplastics and the work led by Martella on the certification of what’s obvious, placing his trademark on foods which are vegetal by nature, but contained in numerous layers of plastic.
But this is only one of many practical aspects, because the critical issue regarding Sea Shepherd (this is not addressed to the volunteers of the association, many of them are questioning themselves) we can find it in the origins of its constitution and international collaboration: the terrifying friendship and therefore collaboration with one of the greatest American right-wing representatives, David Foreman. In a famous interview, Paul Watson, maximum expression of SS in the world, said that he considered his association as Foreman’s Navy, in addition to have contributed to the writing and distribution of one of his books.
In this book there are some of the most xenophobic theories created by American fascism: Foreman claims that the problems of the Earth are caused by immigration, and for this reason migration flows are the first cause of devastation.
Furthermore, on several occasions, Sea Shappard enlisted American marines in its fleets.
Moving to Europe we can find the famous deep friendship with Brigitte Bardot (the actress refurbished and donated him a ship), wife of a deputy of the French Front National, and who on several occasions was sentenced for her homo-transphobic, racist and sexist public statements, which she herself has defended strongly (her interviews can be found over the Internet in French newscasts).
The collaborations between SS and LAMYA ESSEMLALI, neo-fascist of the Front National, and PIERRE RAHBI famous vegan French commentator who claims the Planet is sustainable according to a social organization based on family, better if it’s traditional and white.
Paul Watson describes Rahbi almost as his spiritual guide sharing his positions in whole.
At the beginning we mentioned the essential requirement of being as much as possible unattackable a process degraded by entities like VEGANOK which, in addition to spreading a sick idea of veganism, contribute to maintaining an anthropocentric vision of the society through the use of fetishes that resemble the abuse of animals and the sale of products which directly remind the exploitation of animals, as already mentioned in the article “Agganciati al sistema antropocentrico”.
But VEGANOK is not the only expression of the commodification of antispeciesism, there are many of them including a recent collaboration between the European Vegetarian Union (a body belonging to the European Parliament) and Unilever which provides the flood of the market with 500 products, both new and old ones, certified with the European Vegetarian Union trademark and belonging to the corporation, leader in the fields of animal experimentation, pollution, disappearances and land grabbing (or neocolonialism).
The radical antispeciesist fight is, as all the fights for the liberation of those who are oppressed, against (and battles all of its deviations) the delegation, and the following statement has the same meaning: delegation is against radical antispeciesist fight.
Animal liberation is credible if there is this assumption this is why we should start talking at last about total liberationism.
The system is a continuously self-fuelling leviathan, we can ask it to change a law about one of the forms of exploitation, then digesting any instance it multiplies a hundred different forms of exploitation.
We remind all those present that the second hearing of the trial against the comrades who released 400 slaves imprisoned at the Department of Pharmacology of the University of Milan will take place on the 30th of October at 9.00 a.m.
So we call for the creation of an antifascist sit-in of solidarity which, from the square, could express a clear message (considering also the infiltrations in the sit-in organized on the occasion of the first hearing): fascists out of the antispeciesist fight!”
(via Contagio Antispecista)
[Translated into English by Insurrection News from the original Spanish language text first published by 325. ]
This September 1st marked one month since the disappearance of the anarchist comrade Santiago Maldonado at the hands of the police of the National Gendarmerie of Argentina. This took place within the context of the repression against a demonstration that included road blocks made by the Mapuche community Pu Lof in Resistance at Cashamen, in the Argentine province of Chubut.
While the anarchic agitation spread beyond borders, comrades in Argentina took to the streets to spread acts of revolt via propaganda and direct action. With arson attacks against the police, barricades and Molotov cocktails against government buildings, our comrades unleashed their rage at a situation that is as sad as it is real: the bastards have arrested and disappeared an anarchist comrade.
Because Santiago is an anarchist, and not just a young musician and artist, something the press and leftists conveniently leave out, in denouncing the state repression we make it clear that denial and silencing of the comrade’s political identity is another form of disappearance, erasing from the narrative the true motivations of his solidarity presence in the Mapuche community where he was at the time of his arrest. [1]
We have no advice for our comrades in Argentina, we believe in them and their conviction and autonomy to continue transforming their pain into rage, spreading chaos against the world of authority, and deepening and expanding affinities in concrete experiences of confrontation and agitation.
Simultaneously, coordinated informal international action since the announcement of Santiago’s arrest and disappearance sends a clear message: he is not alone.
Extermination, Cover-Ups and Psychological Warfare: The Counterinsurgency of the 21st Century Against the Internal Enemies of the Established Order
The arrest and disappearance of Santiago Maldonado is not, as some people might think, an isolated incident. On the contrary, it is the living and current state of capitalist and civilized repression. It is a new espisode of the historical confrontation against the forces of law and order.
It is no surprise then that individual Mapuche and anarchists are designated as the new internal enemy within the context of dominion’s democratic state. It is well known that the radical struggle of land defense, autonomy and freedom has been transformed over the years into a real danger to the interests of power. As others have stated, it is a new autonomous subversion. Offensive actions of resistance that, combined with the propagation and implementation of ways of living and relationship modes that are contrary to those imposed by the state, capitalism and civilization, build an antagonistic reality that preoccupies power and keeps it busy with its eradication, isolation and extermination.
In relation to the above, the present configuration of the conflict includes the updating of tactics that many continue to consider as being exclusive to dictatorial regimes.
The arrest and subsequent disappearance of Santiago at the hands of the police in Argentina on August 1st, as well as the death in Chile of Macarena Valdés [2] – an active opponent of the RP GLobal hydroelectric project who was found dead of an apparent suicide at her home in 2016, days after hit men linked to the company left threatening messages for her family – these are just two recent examples of the continuity of the tactics of counterinsurgency in the 21st century.
In both cases, the state and media cover-ups appear under the guise of a fake suicide in the case of Macarena, and for the protection of police agencies by the State in the case of Santiago, seeking to insert the idea that the comrade was never at the location, or that he continues to enjoy a ‘hippie’ lifestyle elsewhere, or even that he went underground in Chile to carry out guerrilla actions [3]. The Latin American dictatorships responded to complaints regarding cases of missing persons with the same or similar lies and arguments.
This is compounded by the situation of Facundo Jones Huala, lonko (tribal leader) of the Cushamen community and spokesperson for the Mapuche Ancestral Resistance, who was arrested for the second time in Argentina since June 2017. At the same time, the Chilean justice system requested his extradition, accusing him of the attempted embezzlement of a private fund. This was state revenge for his participation in the processes of Mapuche land reclamation. Although the lonko was released in early September, cooperation between Member States for repression and the transfer of internal enemies continue beating their wings with the same counterinsurgency motivations that saw the establishment of Operation Condor in the early 70’s [4].
These are the tactics deployed by 21st century capitalism, which reveal its oppressive and totalitarian essence that seeks the subjection of the entire population and the perpetuation of the social order via the militarization of resisting territories using surveillance, monitoring and phone taping, undercover agents, infiltrators and collaborators and the imprisonment, torture and disappearance of Mapuches and anarchists at the hands of state agents.
The picture is completed with the complicity of the mass media who contribute to the propagation of false, confusing and misleading information with the aim of molding a favorable ‘public opinion’ for the validation and continuity of a strategy that is historically well known: the extermination of the projects of struggle that are the embodiment of revolutionaries, subversives, conspirators and communities in conflict.
September Rage and Memory
Today as protagonists of the continuity of the conflict against power and its society, we are facing this previously mentioned strategy. While others assume eternal positions of waiting and victimization, perpetuating their status as spectators of other people’s struggles, the insurrectionists who do not recognize flags or borders continue to focus each within their own territories and with their affinities, on the continuity, deepening and (re) activation of the anarchic threat against power.
The case of comrade Santiago Maldonado is not an ‘excess of repression’ or an ‘abuse of power’. It is power and its repression displaying their sincere intentions to eliminate us. And while others seek refuge in the same State or in the institutionality of the international community, we feel it is important to stress strategies that we can develop to deal with the dynamics of repression and what may come with the worsening of the totalitarian character of democratic regimes.
This is a challenge that we take on in the heat of confrontation and not from the comfort of citizens or reformers as passive observers, for it is the declared enemies of the social order who the enemy will target first, and it is not hard to envisage where they will hyper-vigilantly direct their repressive compass; the normalization of the military presence on the streets, the expansion of citizenist ideologies, joint exercises between military assault groups for urban contexts and the promotion of intelligence operations under the discourse of protecting society by annihilating ‘the enemies of the democracy that has cost us so much to build’.
In Chile, the month of September has left us with other concrete examples of what we have already mentioned. The murder of the anti-authoritarian comrade Claudia López by police bullets on September 11, 1988 – encapuchados (hooded ones) behind the barricade during demonstrations against the beginning of the dictatorship initiated in September 1973 – are another refelction of the emergence of autonomous subversion and anti-authoritarianism in post-dictatorship Chile [5]. In September 2005, in the city of Puerto Montt, José Huenante, a young person of Mapuche origin is detained by police. And in September of 2015, in the town of Alto Hospicio, the young José Vergara is arrested and taken away in a police car [6]. Since being detained, neither of them have been seen again. Both are currently detainees who have been disappeared under democracy.
One month since the disappearance of comrade Santiago Maldonado, 17 years since the murder of the comrade Claudia López, 118 years since the death in action of the anarcho nihilist comrade Bruno Filippi while attacking a meeting center of the Italian bourgeoisie with an explosive device in September 1919.
Let nothing stop our offensive against authority and those who validate the imposed roles. Do not stop the conflict with those who defend the power!
LET’S CONTINUE TO SPREAD ANARCHIST CONFRONTATION AGAINST ALL AUTHORITY!
Sin Banderas Ni Fronteras, cell of anti-authoritarian agitation.
Chile, September 2017.
[1] https://es-contrainfo.espiv.net/?s=ARGENTINA+SANTIAGO&submit.x=0&submit.y=0
[2] http://www.mapuexpress.org/?p=13455
[3] http://www.nuestrasvoces.com.ar/entendiendo-las-noticias/estan-defendiendo-guerrillero/
[4] Operation Condor: Cooperation agreement between South American intelligence agencies during the 1970s to eliminate subversive activities in the region.
[5]https://publicacionrefractario.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/memoria-anticarcelaria-para-claudia-lopez-11-de-septiembre-desde-la-carcel-hasta-la-calle/
[6] http://lamatriznoticias.com.ar/jose-huenante-y-jose-vergara-los-detenidos-desaparecidos-en-democracia-de-chile/
Action in support of the comrades raided in Bure.
In response to the searches in Bure, EDF (French nuclear electric power company, largely owned by the French state) was heated up. An EDF car was set on fire during the night of Friday, September 22 outside the EDF center near the DGSI (General Directorate for Internal Security) and the Chamber of Agriculture.
At the scene one could read: STOP THE SEARCHES IN BURE! Solidarity with the struggle in Bure, and the comrades who are undergoing repression. HANDS OFF BURE!
To be continued…
(via Attaque, translated by Insurrection News)
Note from Insurrection News: ‘Blasphegme’ is an anarchist street bulletin that appeared pasted on walls all over the city of Paris in France. Four editions have been produced. The aim of the bulletin is to ‘agitate, to spread anarchist ideas, to spread seeds of subversion in a daily life as boxed-in as graph paper.’ You can read some English language translations of some of the contents of Blasphegme here: https://blasphegme.noblogs.org/translations/
As some may have noticed, the newspaper Blashpegme has been put on hold. The reason is that I was doing it by myself, and I decided to fly away from the gray cage I was in, and to go wandering, to seek a little beauty, joy, complicity, calm, adventure and comfort.
Perhaps one day I will write a text regarding the violence that has pushed me to take off from Paris, on the disgust and disappointment I feel in relation to an anarchist milieu that protects and justifies the aggressors, on how hard it is to exist in an environment that recognizes only the big mouths, the charismatic ones, and which distils hypocrisies, manipulations, and authoritarians; and how it is to exist as an anarchist woman, in an environment that has difficulty accepting that a comrade is capable of thinking and acting on their own without any man to depend on.
To make this journal was a blasphemy against those authoritarians who believed that they had any influence on the environment, it was to show them that there are individuals who function without their blessing (and without kneeling before them), and without belonging to one clan or another, without defending their small chapels and rigid ideologies. It was also an attempt to do something in spite of everything, on a small scale, trying to help spread ideas that are dear to me while being alone. Because we are not all equal in ‘affinity’, which relies mainly on the capacity for socialization with each other, but also on gregariousness and cronyism. Those who do not feel they have a place in this society, for various reasons, and find themselves on the margins of those small circles who claim to function differently from society, whereas this is not the case. And this paper was meant to show that even in situations of isolation (wanted or not) one can always do something…a newspaper, many interesting things, depending on the means of each person, desires, energy etc.
I thank the few comrades who helped me to paste up Blasphegme in the streets, who encouraged me and did proofreading. You gave me energy when I did not have any and you helped me to not give up in the difficult moments when you were the only ones at my side.
Maybe Blasphegme will reappear on the walls, maybe it will change language, format, etc. Who knows…for now Blasphegme hibernates.
(via Attaque and Blasphegme, translated by Insurrection News)
Received on 26.09.17:
On Saturday 23 September 2017, a group of 15 queer anarchists (including sex workers, drug users, disabled people, people living with blood borne viruses and survivors of child abuse & spiritual abuse perpetrated by fundamentalist christians & churches) disrupted and intervened in the launch of the national Coalition For Marriage campaign. The Coalition For Marriage is a front group for the fundamentalist religious organisation, the Australian Christian Lobby.
Our action was undertaken by 8 undercover anarchist/ activists in our most conservative clothes, who infiltrated the event. In an attempt to deprive the religious fundamentalists of a platform, and to make their event as uncomfortable as possible, we engaged in a series of constant disruptions, beginning with two people unfurling a banner reading “Burn Churches, Not Queers” as the 1000 strong supporters of Christian fundamentalist ideology entered the venue.
The second disruption involved an activist running on stage during the opening speech by the repulsive maggot Lyle Sheldon (the CEO of the Australian Christian Lobby) and attempting to unfurl a banner reading “Love not Hate”. The activist was set upon by overenthusiastic security who violently detained her and removed her from the venue.
15 minutes later, 3 activists in the audience disrupted the homophobic whining of Cella White, a “concerned mother”, who claims her son was encouraged to “wear a dress to school” in lieu of “traditional boys’ school uniform”. One activist began yelling “Death to Christian fascists”, and “God raped Mary, she didn’t consent and should have aborted”, whilst 2 women enthusiastically tongue kissed.
As security removed the 3 people, who were yelling “Crucify Christian fundamentalists”, “Christian fascists” and “Death to homophobes”, 2 more activists took the opportunity to occupy the stage. One of the activists took over the podium and yelled into the microphones, “This isn’t about free speech, would you have given the Nazis a platform?”, before the 2 women activists began kissing. The 2 women were also removed by security guards. The Christian audience booed us, we heard people yelling, “Satan is behind thee”, and “Rot in Hell”.
As we were escorted from the venue, a woman attempted to destroy the Marriage Coalition’s merchandise table. As several people were evicted from the venue, they warned members of the Coalition For Marriage, “This is War!”, and “We know who your leaders are and where they live!”. In addition to the disruptions, 6 of us also stood at the entrance/ exit to the venue with queer Antifa flags.
We undertook this action, not because we necessarily believe in marriage, or the power of voting for constitutional reforms to improve our lives, rather, we believe the Australian Christian Lobby to be a fascist group, whose vile and hateful rhetoric and polices have the ability to influence public discourse and policy and to further persecute and criminalise the already highly marginalised and stigmatised communities we belong to.
Similarly, members of the Australian Christian Lobby have worked with racist and fascist right-wing groups who are active in the persecution and vilification of the Muslim community.
The anarchists who engaged in this action believe that anti-fascist action should not be solely about attending counter-rallies, or promoting social media posts. We believe that we need to counteract manifestations of fascism using a diversity of tactics, and that we should deprive religious fundamentalists and fascists of a platform by restricting their ability to propagate their ideas and to mobilise the community. We also believe that it is essential to send a message to fascists of all ilks that we are monitoring them, and will use whatever means are at our disposal to make their spaces as uncomfortable as possible.
Since undertaking this action we have predictably been condemned in the mainstream media by conservative commentators as “bullies” and “domestic terrorists”. However, other anarchists have also condemned us. In response we say: These people would prefer that we didn’t exist. This is having a very real impact on our community, and we’re fucking angry. We don’t play the respectability game, we don’t all think alike, and we don’t require or seek consensus or approval from liberals, outraged LGBTIQA+ people, the media, or assimilationist “anarchists”. As queer anarchists, we’re not some kind of conglomerate mass or hive mind- we’re individuals, and this is our own autonomous freely chosen expression.
We wanted to upset Christian fundamentalists and to create as big of a scene as possible to push the fuck back. We did, and it was fucking great. We found joy, laughter, comradery and strengthened friendships and connections. We took back a little bit of what they take from us when they do what they do. There is no “what works” when it comes to these people- they have their minds made up, they’re not fence sitters, they’re killing us. This is war. Playing “nice”? Friendly debate, hugs and petitions or invoking Ghandi? Keep it. Fucking keep it. Play your own chosen way, but you don’t get to tell us how to think. This is our rage, this is our expression. We’re pushing the fuck back and we’re going to continue to do so.
mpalothia act for freedom now contra info 325 isyandan enough is enough! it’s going down! radiofragmata dissacords running wild